The Long Road to New Vegas
by Dream-Fuel
Summary: One Man's Journey Through The Wastes - Zack makes his way through the dangers of Arizona to face an enemy from his family's past that resides in New Vegas. He visits many places and meets very interesting people along the way.
1. Prologue

**Fallout, with its history, places, factions, technology, and characters are owned by Bethesda. This is a fictional work created by me. All the characters within this story are my creations. This work can not be used or copied without my explicit permission. Please leave a review with suggestions or ways to improve my writing style, thank you and enjoy.**

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It has been a little over 200 years since the bombs dropped in the Great War of 2077. The area that used to be called the Four States Commonwealth a long time past had become a barren wasteland, the land scorched by the blinding sun. Water has become the rarest commodity one could have. There was a state known as Arizona that had been part of this commonwealth. It was not lucky enough to be spared by the barrage of bombs that destroyed the rest of the county. The main destruction had been around the capital city of Phoenix, which had the highest population density at the time. The city and its surrounding parts have become soulless grey ruins. The rest of the state has become a dangerous place to try and survive. The inhabitants of this desolate place have come to call it the Arizona Wastes.

The Arizona Wastes has become divided into several parts. There is no form of government to speak of to protect the people of the land. The only law is dependant on who you keep company with. The north is mainly controlled by warring bands of the remnants of Indian tribes fighting for water sources, fertile land, and religious places. They are highly territorial, violent, and have been known to practice cannibalism. The eastern part is run by a network of raiders who came across several abandoned military bases and are heavily equipped with weapons, gear, and even a few vehicles. They are now fortified within these bases leaching off any settlements, caravans, and wanderers in the area. They have become known as the Crimson Surge. It has been rumored that a woman is in charge of this network, claiming the title of General.

The southern part is pretty much void of people due to the fact that a group of religious zealots wander the area capturing anyone they find and forcing them to convert to their ways or be sacrificed to whatever deities they worship. Little is known about their beliefs and ideals, but most that enter this area are never seen again. The only relative safe part of the Arizona Wastes is that of the western part. This is where many communities have sprouted up, small villages, towns, and some underground camps. There are also communities that thrive on the fringes of the ruins of Phoenix who scavenge what they need. The ones that are close together usually have a treaty with one another to come to ones aide if one gets attacked. This acts as a deterrent to raiders and thieves and is what keeps the western part of the wastes semi safe.

The Arizona Wastes are full of deadly creatures, killers, and many other dangerous things, but there are glimmers of hope throughout the land. Everywhere you go you feel desperation, but you will hear of groups trying to make life better for others, or bringing justice to the evils of man, or stories of a courageous person putting everything on the line, including their own life, just to do the right thing. This is a tale of man named Zack, making his way towards the city of New Vegas. He is heading there to confront his past, as well as clear his family name that had been blackened so long ago. He knows his journey will be long and difficult, but he has a strong will and the patience to persevere till the end.


	2. The Chase

August 17th, 2279

The sky was cloudless and the sun was burning bright. A light breeze was blowing from the east. It was just turning the middle of the afternoon when the heat was becoming the most unbearable. The man heard shouts of anger behind him, but he could not discern what was being spoken. He had been running for the last ten minutes as fast as his legs could muster. Sweat was trickling down his face and neck; he knew he could not keep this pace forever. He kept scanning the ground as he ran so he would not stumble on any obstacles. It would cost him his life if he did. He could feel the shoulder bag he was wearing as it banged his side with every stride he took. He quickly glanced back and saw he was being pursued by three people, two men and one woman, all of which were branding weapons. The woman was the fastest of the three and had quickly gained distance to the man in the lead, but he kept running all the same. The man saw the entrance to the canyon less than a quarter mile from where he was. He knew he could lose them if he was able to make it into that maze of dust and rock. With the prospect of freedom so close, more adrenaline kicked in and allowed him his second wind.

The man was nearing the entrance to the canyon, he was so close, and the fear was starting to dissipate from his mind. He knew he could make it even though his lungs were burning from running so long. All of a sudden a sharp pain filled him from his left leg, which shot up through his body. The woman had been faster than him and had been able to hit his leg with the two foot pipe that she was toting. The man went tumbling down getting cuts and scrapes on his arms, legs and face. He finally came to rest laying face up. The woman was already standing over him when he realized what had occurred. He reached down quickly for his knife he wore on his belt. The woman instantly brought the pipe down in an arc on his right arm, breaking it in the process. The man cried out in agony, and held his now broken arm with his remaining good one. He looked up at the woman and glared at her with hatred. She just stared at him without emotion. She shook her head once as if saying, don't try anything else. The man recognized this woman, but couldn't place her name. It was Sarah, or maybe Gina. Her hair was medium length, blonde, and blowing slightly in the breeze that was still present. She had a strange beauty to her; even with the long scar that ran from the bottom of her left ear down do her right collarbone. Whatever attack that had caused this prevented her from being able to speak, permanently. He knew she was one of the higher ups of the raider's leader, Max. She was one of his loyal lieutenants.

A few moments later, which seemed like an eternity to the man laying on the ground cradling his broken arm, Max and the other man that had been pursuing him had come into his view. Max was built big with dark skin and had a shaved head. Burns and scars covered his body as if he had never seen a day without some sort of violence involved. Max came closer to him, kicking him once in the side of his stomach and then in the side of his face. The man on the ground made a grunt with each kick. He then turned his head to one side coughed once, and spit out blood along with two teeth. Max reached down and pulled the shoulder bag off the man on the ground. He opened it and peered inside. He smiled, took a couple of steps and tossed the bag to the other male raider, who then crossed it over his own shoulder, and stood silently. Max came back into the view of the man on the dirt.

"Your brother Jake was a good man. He was strong, fierce, and always obeyed me. You could have been as great as him, but, you decided to try to fuck us over and steal from us. Your job was simple and yet you messed it up. Just think of what your brother would say."

"You killed my brother you ugly shit head!" The injured man on the ground said as he spat more blood.

"No, no, no." Max responded smiling. "I sent him on a task, and he got himself shot and captured. Then he was hung by those townsfolk. I had nothing to do with that."

"You lie! You knew that everyone was looking to him as a new leader, and you sent him to do something that you knew couldn't be done. You were just too jealous of Jake and too much of a coward to challenge him yourself. You knew he wouldn't make it back!"

Max gave a small shrug, waved his hand non-caringly and proceeded to change the subject. "And just what were you planning on doing with all this jet that you decided to steal? Sell it in our territory? Or just shoot it up yourself? I didn't take you for a junkie."

"I was going to head to Essett, sell it, and then use the money to place a bounty for your head on a pike! Least then Jake could lay in peace." The man looked up grinning, and then coughed a couple of times. A fly landed on his face and was crawling around, but the man was in to much pain to bother swatting at it.

Max shook his head sadly a few times. He reached to the waist of his pants and withdrew a .32 pistol and held it at his side tapping it against his leg. "You could have made it big in our group man, but this has to be done. Give my regards to Jake." Max angled the pistol towards the wounded man's head, and pulled the trigger.

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**A/N: The first few chapters are a little slow and very descriptive, but the story gets better after that, I promise. :D**


	3. Beginnings

August 17th, 2279

Zack awoke. His eyes shot open from the sound of a gunshot. He was able to lie still after just waking up, a skill that took much time to master from his days in the militia. If he had sat up quickly, he might have been spotted by whomever that shot had come from. He was up on a hill behind a rock outcropping that laid to his left. He had chosen this spot to rest because it offered shade from the sun as well as a good vantage point. The shot had sounded close, less than a half mile away. Zack wasn't too sure of which direction it came from however. It did sound like a small caliber weapon. He was very proficient in small arms. Zack remembered there was a small canyon to the south west of him, which he dared not venture for fear of Yao Guai or Rad Scorpions. He turned his head to his right, the east, and glanced as much as his field of vision allowed. If the shot came from anywhere here he would be exposed if he sat up. He didn't see anyone so he very carefully got into a crouched position behind the rocks and reached back for his pack which he used as a head rest.

Zack pulled down the tinted biker goggles he usually always wore down to his neck. He then took out a pair of black binoculars from the left side pocket of his pack. They were very old and worn. They had been with him for a long time. Only the right side of them actually worked, the left objective lens had been smashed a few years ago on a scouting mission he had been part of. He looked over the rocks very slowly and scanned the area. It was then when he saw them by the canyon he marked mentally in his mind earlier. They looked to be a little more than a third of a mile away from him. He raised his binoculars to his eyes and focused in on where they were at. He could see three standing people, two men and one woman. You can spot a raider fairly easy; they usually wear different variants of the same type of makeshift armor. Mainly composed of leather, metal scraps, chains, rubber and anything else they might deflect an attack. The raiders seemed to be standing over a body lying on the ground.

_"He must have been some merchant or traveler, unlucky enough to be picked off by raiders."_ Zack thought to himself.

Zack saw the female raider crouch down checking the body. It looked like she was searching for any valuables. She put something in one of her pockets. The dark skinned one said something, the female stood back up and they all turned south and started walking.

_"Good, they're leaving. Back to their camp I suppose."__  
_  
Zack crouched back down and put his binoculars back in the left pocket of his pack. He wasn't afraid of confrontation with the three raiders. He would just rather save the ammo, and possibly injury to himself. A breeze picked up and cooled the back of his neck which had accumulated some sweat. He then sat down on his bedroll crossed legged. His bedroll was made of wool. Not the most comfortable material to have, but it cushioned the ground quite well and always stayed dried. It was however, about a foot shorter than him, he himself a little over six feet tall. He didn't mind however when the lower part of his legs were in the dirt while he slept. When not in use, his bedroll would hang from his pack underneath by straps.

His pack was a good sized back pack which held Zack's possessions quite well. It was made of some synthetic material that had one point been a rich navy blue with black trim when it was new. It was now however, a dusty bluish grey. The main compartment was quite large and it held the bulk of his items. He had a one and a half gallon water bladder that rested on the bottom which at the moment was full. On top of that he had a small wooden case which held two boxes of .44 caliber ammo, as well as a gun cleaning kit. Next to that he had some spare clothing. There was leather pouch here as well that held some hygiene items such as his razor, a crude tooth brush, and some paper scraps for when bathroom time rolls around. There is also some decent soap, which he mainly uses for deodorant and washing when water was abundant. There is a good sized tin container on top of this which Zack uses for his food storage. At the moment he some squirrel bits, Mutfruit, and quite a bit of Brahmin jerky. There is also some metal dinnerware here, one plate, one mug, and some silverware.

The next compartment is about half the size of the first and Zack uses it to hold mainly medical supplies. He has three stimpaks, a bottle of buff out, a box of mentants, and some bandages. There are a few surgical items in case there are any injuries to himself that he might be able to work on, a scalpel, couple of clamps, and some needles and thread for stitches. He has an old AZ Journal of Internal Medicine for reference in this compartment. He has had to use it a few times in his past, mainly to help others. He wouldn't call himself an adept doctor though, just a decent field medic. There is also about twenty feet of strong rope that is stored here as well in case he needs to get down into an area with no other way out except climbing. The best part of his pack resides here in this compartment. There is a false bottom a hidden zipper which has a small space for hiding certain things. He stores here the caps he has saved throughout his life, as well as a map that he was able to get from a caravan guard that shows much of the areas of the Arizona Wastes that the guard traveled on. It shows dangers, settlements, and places with clean water. This is the most important item Zack is carrying, without it he would be lost.

The smaller side pockets held the last of his gear. In the left side pocket he has his binoculars, as well as multi-tool incase he needs to open any kind of container or get wiring.. It also helps with lock picking with the screwdriver attachments on it. Zack also keeps a lighter here for sterilizing his medical tools, and starting cooking fires. In the right side pocket he has a small pry bar, for use in breaking windows, opening doors, and comes in quite handy as a makeshift weapon. There are a couple of bottles of wonder glue, for a short term fix for broken things.

Zack reached over for his canteen. It was a rounded one made of metal, but had Brahmin leather covering the outside of it which kept the contents from getting extremely hot He usually wore this over his right shoulder, and it hung at his left side. He screwed the cap off and took a few sips. The water was quite warm, but his mouth was so dry that it didn't bother him. The canteen was still about half full. From nowhere, thoughts of his mother came into his mind.

_"I miss her so much."_

It had only been two days since Zack left the town of Polvo, which he called home for the last fourteen years. The terrain had been rough and he had only made about sixteen miles since then. A week and a half had passed since he had buried his mother. She fell quite ill during the beginning of that summer. She had a high fever and had much problem keeping food down. It was only a matter of time before the inevitable would happened. Zack closed his eyes and thought back to the funeral.

The sky was cloudy and blocked out the sun, which helped with the temperature greatly. The funeral was early in the morning; it was his mother's favorite time of the day. Most people enjoyed watching the sunset, but she was an early riser, and loved to watch the sunrise. The cemetery was just on the outside of town. It was surrounded by a short wooden white fence that was starting to collapse in some areas. The cemetery had accumulated quite a bit of headstones and crosses over the years. All the people of Polvo came to pay their respects. His mother had been a very popular woman, always cheery to everyone, and was always the first to volunteer to help someone. Zack was silent for the funeral, he kept his eyes on the horizon, he couldn't bear look at his lifeless mother's coffin. His best friend Alex was standing by him throughout the funeral. Alex stood silently as well; he was there for moral support. Zack was glad he was there; Alex was the only person left he cared about. He let Mayor Sheppard give the eulogy, which he performed well. Sheppard had been the mayor for the last ten years, so he knew just the right things to say. There were sobs coming from the crowd that had gathered, which brought a small smile to Zack's mouth. He was glad that everyone adored her. Then they lowered her coffin, and buried her.

Zack then replayed the last conversation that he had with his mother while she was still coherent. It was obvious that she would not make it much longer.

"Look, Zack." She coughed a few times. "I know how long you have been waiting to go back. I know nothing I can say can change your mind from going there after I'm gone. I just wanted to say thank you for staying here all this time with me, you have been the greatest son a mother could hope for. I'm very proud of everything you have done to help with this town and in becoming a man."

She reached over to the night stand and opened a drawer and pulled out a small key. She handed it to Zack. "This will open the trunk of your father's belongings. Please treat them well."

She then took off her wedding ring and placed it in Zack's other hand. It was a small silver ring that had a sun, a crescent moon which both had faces, as well as three shooting stars. "This has always kept me safe since your father gave this to me on our wedding day. I want you to always carry it with you so you remain safe."

She closed her eyes for a moment and then re opened them. "I know you can do anything you put your mind to. I will be with you always in your heart."

Zack closed both his hands clenching them tightly with the key in one, and the ring in the other. "You did a great job raising me as a single mother where most would have turned to alcohol or drugs. I am very grateful that you have been so caring to me for my whole life and thank you for all that you have done."

"I will make the journey to New Vegas and revive our family name which was dishonored all those years ago. The Tull family will pay for what was done, and I will prove my worth in poker. I love you so very much." Zack leaned forward and kissed her forehead.

She stared up at him with her hazel eyes and smiled. "Do well Zack, I love you." Zack nodded and then turned around and left the room.

Zack's eyes watered as he was going over these painful memories, he reached down with his right hand to his chest where he wore his mother's ring on a small chain, and squeezed it.

_"You're always with me."_

Zack stared at nothing for a few minutes, remembering some good memories with his mother, and smiled. The breeze that had been such a blessing before had ceased. Zack snapped back into reality. He then put his pack by the end of his bedroll, and lay down. He pulled his goggles back up to his eyes. They did a good job keeping the light of the day out while he slept. He then closed his eyes and planned on resting till sundown.


	4. A Father's Lesson

August 17th, 2279

The temperature was starting to cool. Zack stirred in his sleep, turned on his right side and opened his eyes. Darkness was just starting to envelop the land. The moon was in its last quarter, a half moon, sitting just above the eastern horizon. The moon provided decent light for traveling at night which Zack preferred to do. The temperature is better, there is less water waste through sweating, and it was harder to be spotted by people, whether they are friend or foe. Zack glanced around to his right, did not see any dangers, and his instincts told him the same thing. He sat up and rested his back against the rock outcropping that had given him shade while he slept. He opened his pack, pulled out his container of food, and pulled some Brahmin jerky out and munched on it. It was very salty and dry, but his stomach welcomed the nourishment. Zack put the container back in his pack, and reached for his canteen and took a mouthful.

Zack looked down and made sure his boots were tied tight. His boots were some old work boots that he was able to acquire which were ankle high and faded black. Satisfied with his boots he then dusted off the lower part of his pants that had been lying in the dirt while he slept. They were some old pre war combat fatigues. He wasn't sure what country that they had been from originally, but they have held up very well for him over the years. At one point they had been a dark black he supposed. They were now a charcoal grey from years of the sun beating on them, as well as wear from daily activities. The knees and shins had been reinforced by Zack. He put extra padding in the knees for the times he had get down quickly and didn't want to worry about injury. For the shins he sewed some pieces of heavy plastic on the inside. You never knew when you needed to run, and you did not want to get you shins taken out by random objects such as jutting rebar. It also provided support against attacks, any decent raider knows someone cannot fight or run if they cannot stand. So they usually opt to attack your legs first.

Zack had a leather belt that he wore on his waist. He didn't actually need the belt to hold up his pants, they fit him quite well. The belt was used for attaching his gear. On his right back side it held a small string closed pouch which had a few caps, bobby pins, and some chewing gum. On his left side he wore a sheath which held his combat knife that he had owned as long as he could remember. To the right of this he had two small buttoned pouches that held a speed loader in each for a .44 magnum. Over this belt he wore another, which was hanging at a crossed angle, his holster. The holster held his most sentimental possession, his dad's revolver. It was grayish black in color with a reddish wooden grip. The barrel was of medium length and sat snugly in the holster. The revolver was weighted well for a man of Zack's size. Along the strap he was able to store more rounds of ammo. He had only about eighteen on there at the moment; it could however hold double that. Zack did not have it fully filled, he did not like to have his rounds exposed to the elements for too long. It sometimes made them become useless if they got wet or too hot.

Tucked into his pants was a short sleeved, faded, dark blue shirt. The shirt had been snagged on many things over time and had quite a few small holes. This did not bother him though, because over this he wore a tan leather duster. The duster was dirtied up a bit, but it was made of strong material and had held up against the worst. The lower back part had a few chard blackened spots from a fire. Zack at one point had to run through a building as it was burning around him. He kept the sleeves rolled up to his elbows when he traveled at night, but wore them long to during the day to protect against the sun. There were large pockets on each side of the duster that were empty at the time. He used these for quick spots to put any useful items he found while traveling, and then later he moved them to his pack. He did not like to stay in one spot exposed too long. In the mid back part there was a small slit. A leather strap slides inside through here which hooks to the other part of the strap and exits through the opening in the front of the duster. The strap attaches to a metal pauldron on Zack's left shoulder. The pauldron is composed of strong steel and angled up a bit to protect his neck as well. Most people, being right handed, usually attack with melee weapons at an arc to the left side, and the pauldron protects this area.

On the outside of the upper arm on each side of the duster, he has sewed on leather pieces which were about six inches in length for added cushioned support. On his hands he wore fingerless leather gloves. Around his neck he wore a grey cloth garment, similar to a scarf. He usually wore this wrapped around his head and face when he traveled during the day, or when a dust storm was fast approaching. With it wrapped around his head and his tinted goggles on, he was sure he looked menacing to others, but he was good at heart.

Zack rubbed the top of his head a few times, getting any dirt and debris off of it. His hair is dark brown, but he always keeps it buzzed cut. It helps his head stay cool, and keeps the bugs from making a colony in his scalp. Zack reached down and made sure the revolver was strapped in tight in the holster. He had always seen his father with this revolver when he was young. It was one of the few things remaining of his father. Growing up, Zack did not get to see his father as much as he liked. His parents and he lived in a small settlement outside of New Vegas called Blue Diamond. It was where Zack was born and lived during his childhood. His father worked for the Tull family in New Vegas. He worked security in their casino, as well as any dirty work they wanted accomplished as well. There were a few families fighting for control, but the Tull's were one of the most powerful. His father would sometime be gone for weeks doing a job, coming back with bruises and injuries, but he hid his work from Zack as best he could. He did not want Zack to worry. His mother hated that he had to work for the Tull family, but it was the only way to provide in the area. If you were not working for one of the families in the city, you were considered an enemy or collateral damage.

Zack crouched down by the end of his bedroll, the night was still silent. As he rolled it up he thought of a pleasant memory of his father. His father always taught him how to work hard, shoot expertly, and play strong poker. There was one day when his father had come back home in the early morning after have been working all night. Zack was only six at the time, and he had rushed up and gave his father a big hug.

"Hey bud boy, I see that you missed me. Didn't think that I was going to come home for a bit when I left last night?" His father had asked.

"I thought you were going to leave mommy and me alone again." Zack responded while looking up at his father with a wide grin. "Are you going to teach me today daddy. Please?"

"I suppose I could. It's about that time for you anyhow." He put his hand on Zack's head and ruffled up his hair.

"Hey, cut it out!" Zack said as he laughed.

"Don't think you could do me a favor, grab some food from your mother, and I'll meet me down where I shoot?"

"You got it daddy!" He then ran to the house to find his mother.

His father spent most of the morning with him. He first went over the proper safety for handling a gun, and then how to load it by releasing the cylinder latch. He then showed him the proper way to hold his revolver, aiming techniques, and squeezing, not pulling the trigger, when you had a target. They practiced on old rusted tin cans that rested on boulders. Zack was a horrible shot in the beginning, but he was able to get his own small .32 revolver later that year, and practiced frequently with it.

"Now remember Zack, don't aim with your gun, aim with your eyes. If you have to kill when your life is in danger, don't kill with your gun, kill with your heart." Zack's father had told him when they were done for the day.

_"You were such a great instructor." _Zack thought as he was still crouched by the rock outcropping.

Zack took the now rolled up bedroll, and attached it to the underside of his pack. He put his canteen over his right shoulder, with it hanging at his left side. He stood up with his pack in one hand, put the straps through each arm, and rested it on his back. Zack looked around to get his bearings, and then began to travel northwest.


	5. A Warm Meal

August 18th, 2279

Zack had been traveling for most of the night. The only companion was the sound of his boots hitting the dirt with each step. He had been making good distance this night. He noticed a rather large steep hill with a few dead trees overhanging on the side coming up on his right. He did not take any special interest in the hill, just another landmark in the Arizona Wastes. It was not till Zack had traveled about halfway past the hill when he heard a scuffling sound. He paused where he stood with his head cocked to one side, trying desperately to comprehend what had caused it. He heard the sound again coming from somewhere on the hill, and saw a few small rocks roll down, taking some dirt along for the ride.

_"What could it be? A Rad Scorpi-,"__  
_  
Before Zack could finish his thought, he was struck by something that hit his lower back and caused him to stagger forwards a bit. He quickly turned around while he moved the right side of his duster aside, withdrew his revolver and aimed in into the darkness. From his left peripheral, he saw a grayish blur about as big as a medium sized dog run off into the shadows of the night.

_"Damn, its worse, Jackal Rabbits."__  
_  
Jackal Rabbits in pre-war times had been just known as Jack Rabbits. They were desert dwelling animals that were small in size, had brownish fur that covered their bodies. They usually were solitary creatures until they found a mate and had offspring. They were herbivores, only eating vegetation that they were able to scavenge. In the pre-war days, if a Jack Rabbit was approached by a human, they would skitter off and hide somewhere. They had once been called cute animals, but with the radiation from the fallout from Phoenix, they had been mutated into these horrible creatures, Jackal Rabbits. They had grown twice in size. Only small patches of grey fur speckled their body, the rest was covered by the pink of their skin. They could now jump very far and high. Their eyes had become a feral greenish color, allowing them easier visibility in the night. With the lack of vegetation they had evolved to carnivores, their teeth became long sharp instruments for ripping flesh. They would usually hunt as a group of three or more, attacking any prey they thought they could take down and Zack was next.

By the time Zack figured out what he was up against, he got hit again from his right. A sharp pain filled his forearm, and he felt the warm stickiness of blood. The initial pain had caused him to drop his revolver. He quickly pulled his combat knife with his left hand. The Jackal Rabbit that had caused the wound was already out of sight. Zack crouched down slowly reaching blinding for his gun while he glanced around. Before he could find his gun, he saw movement, jerked his head left and saw one of them coming at him. It was running at incredible speed, and when it got about six feet from Zack, it leapt, mouth open ready to bite. Zack quickly rolled backwards swinging his left arm outward as he rolled. He felt the combat knife make contact. He heard a low gurgling moan, and the sound of the beast's feet as it ran past.

Zack got back up into a crouched position and saw his revolver. His heart was beating rapidly and he could feel the beginnings of sweat forming on his brow. Zack grabbed his weapon and stood back up. He heard another one coming down the hill now behind him, causing small avalanches composed of rocks and pebbles. He turned to that direction and saw it just as it jumped at him. While it was in mid air, he aimed carefully and fired his revolver. The blast from the spent round, echoed in the night, the Jackal Rabbit fell to the ground, its body limp.

_"One down, who knows how many more to go."_ He thought grimly.

Zack turned around, and spotted two of them running towards him side by side. He raised his revolver again and took a shot at each of them. The one on the right took the round in the chest, and went down, permanently. His other shot went a little wide and impacted the dirt as the Jackal Rabbit ran on. It sprung up at Zack, but he was able to move out of the way fast enough to dodge its attack. He spun around just as the animal landed, and he shot at it once more, hitting it in the thigh of its hind leg. Even wounded, the creature was still quick, and it ran off. Zack spent a few moments surveying the area, and listening for any more of them. The attacked seemed to be concluded.

_"Guess the others decided I wasn't worth getting killed for."__  
_  
With revolver still in hand, Zack walked to where the one he had shot in the chest. It was gone however. He looked down at the ground and it looked like it had been dragged away, opposite of the way it had been attacking.

_"Whoa, I didn't take them desperate enough to eat their own."__  
_  
Zack turned back towards the hill, and saw the other one he had killed there. He placed his knife back in is sheath. He started walking over to the body while he released the cylinder latch on his revolver. He opened the cylinder, taking out the four empty casings putting them in his duster pocket, and loaded new ones from his holster's belt. He pushed the cylinder in and heard it click. He was standing over the body of the Jackal Rabbit. Zack heard movement to his left and he turned his body with his revolver pointed out ready to fire. Zack's face was in a scowl. He saw a young woman standing there. She had tanned light skin, with auburn hair which was worn long. She was clothed in dirtied up garments, tan pants with a grayish white shirt. She raised her hands quickly with a terrified look on her face.

"Please don't shoot, I mean no harm. I heard the shots and just came to see if anyone was hurt." She said with a soft voice.

Zack relaxed his face. _"She probably thinks I'm some psychotic wastelander."_

The young woman looked down at the corpse at his feet, her eyes went wide. "Wow, I have never seen one so close up, only running as a pack in the distance. They are so fast, how did you manage to kill one?"

Zack looked over her a moment, and decided she was not an immediate threat, and placed his revolver back in its holster. "Trust me, it wasn't easy." He felt his forearm throbbing a bit. "I did get two of them but one of them was dragged away by the others."

"Do you think they'll come back?" She asked now lowering her arms and walking towards him.

"No, I believe they are done for the night. Mind if I ask you what you are doing out here all alone?"

"Oh, I'm not. My boyfriend David is on the other side of this hill." She gestured behind her, "There is a path that leads through it a little ways back. My name is Amber by the way." She was now smiling. "If you'd like, we have camp set up back there. You could bring that," she pointed at the body at Zack's feet, "we have some beans and dandy boy apples to add to the mix as well. We could cook them up and all share a nice warm meal."

Zack's stomach growled at the words, warm meal. "That sounds like a good plan Amber. The name's Zack." He bent down and picked up the animal and carried it by its legs.

"Pleased to meet ya." Amber turned happily. "Follow me."

It only took about five minutes to travel to and through the path that cut through the hill. Zack and Amber came to a clearing where a small fire was burning. There was a blackened dead tree nearby that overhung the fire. Zack figured it was what they were using to fuel it. A man that had been sitting with his back to the tree quickly stood up, no doubt from the sound of Amber and his footsteps. His hair was messy, and he was dressed very similar to Amber, but with a green jacket on. He was branding a hockey stick, and had a scared look in his eyes.

"W-wh-who's there!" The man said quite loudly, his arms tensed as he was poised to strike.

Amber responded first. "David, its ok it's me."

David stood ready for an attack. "Th-there is someone behind you. Who is it?"

"This is Zack. He was on the other side of this hill. The gunshots were from him. He was attacked by a pack of Jackal Rabbits. He killed two of them and the others fled."

Zack stepped forward. "Hi David, Amber has invited me to your camp so we can share a meal. I brought the main course." He dropped the carcass on the ground.

"O-okay, that sounds good." David lowered the hockey stick and laid it against the tree. "Sorry about that. You can never be too careful out here."

"Understandable." Zack responded.

They all sat down around the fire, Zack on one side, Amber and David sitting close on the other. Amber opened two cans of beans, and placed them by the fire to warm them. Zack leaned against his pack and tended to the wound on his arm. It was still bleeding a little bit, and the rest of his forearm was caked with dried blood. He rinsed it off with a little water first. He then stuck his combat knife in the fire, left it there for a few minutes, then pulled it out and cauterized the open wound. The pain was sharp, but only lasted for about a minute as he held it there. After being satisfied with it, Zack searched for a couple of good sized rocks which were able to hold his metal plate upon over the fire. He used his combat knife to cut strips of meat off the carcass. He placed three large pieces on his plate and placed it over the fire. The aroma filled their nostrils and their stomachs churned in anticipation. They all sat in silence, patiently waiting for the meal to be ready.


	6. The Man Called Nom

August 18th, 2279

Watching the fire flicker in front of them, and the stars twinkling above, the three of them had sat waiting till the meat was finally ready. Amber brought out a plate, and accepted two of the large pieces from Zack. She covered her hand with the sleeve of her shirt, and passed Zack one of the cans of now warm beans. While the meat had been cooking, Zack had taken notice of David taking off his jacket and placing it aside. Even with the cool night air, David had been sweating quite profusely. Zack took a bite of the meat. It had its own unique smoky taste to it, and was rather good considering he had no idea what the animal had eaten in its life. Zack chewed a few times, and then swallowed. He looked up over the fire at Amber and David as they hungrily ate at theirs. Zack scooped up some of the beans and ate them as well.

_"Not too bad for pre-war food"_ Thought happily as he ate.

"Yours taste as good as mine?" Zack asked.

"Y-yes, it's very good." David said back.

Amber looked up and smiled, "Mine is excellent, we are very grateful that you shared with us."

Zack nodded, "Well, I couldn't have eaten it all by myself, and you did already have a fire going, so it worked out well."

"Yep." Amber responded with her mouth full.

While the food had been cooking, Zack had seen two packs leaning on the side of the tree.

"Do you two live out here in the wastes, or are you headed somewhere?"

"No way, it's t-t-too dangerous to try and survive out here indefinitely." David responded quickly.

"Yeah, we are headed to the southeast a ways. The place we had lived for quite some time had a visitor arrive one day. Our whole town gathered to hear him speak. He told us of a place about a week's travel, southeast our own. He said if you look for a mountain range that looks like a man's head facing up, that the place would be at the base of that mountain. He spoke of such great many things. There was an abundance of food, clean water, and safe from raiders and animals. If we were to go, we would be given a home to stay in, and land to farm. He called the place Shady Paradise."

When Zack heard this name, he dropped his fork to his plate, and choked a bit on his food.

_"No way, he's still out there spreading his lies."_ Anger burned in Zack's heart.

Amber looked over concerned. "Are you okay Zack?"

"Yeah, sorry. It's just that man. Let me guess, he was dressed in fancy pre-war wear, and called himself Nom?"

"Yes." She said slowly. "How did you know that?"

"This man, Nom, he too came to my town to visit." Zack paused and took a deep breath and exhaled. "This was earlier this year, right about the beginning of spring. He told all of us of these same things. We had heard rumors of strange actions occurring in this area that he spoke up, and most of our residents took him as a liar. There was however one family, the Keaton's, composed of Jack Keaton, his wife, and two daughters that believed different. The town's militia had asked this man Nom to leave nicely, and he did. He probably knew that at least someone had been swayed. We argued with the Keaton's for quite sometime, but it was of no use. They packed their belongings on a couple of their Brahmin, and left for the southeast. We figured it would be the last we saw of Jack Keaton and his family."

David lay down on the ground with his head on Amber's lap, and closed his eyes. Apparently he was tired, or he was very bored with Zack's story. She pulled out the box of dandy boy apples from her pack, took a couple out for herself. "Want any?"

Zack shook his head. He then stared at the fire dying down as he continued. "I was part of the safety for the town, by serving with the militia. It wasn't till a couple of months later that we were on patrol early in the morning, a few hours till sunrise, and my squad and I came across a man. We could only make out his shadow at first since it was still nightfall. This man was staggering as he walked; wearing torn dirty garments, and was mumbling incoherently. We had raised our weapons, telling this man to halt, but he seemed to not understand, or even notice our presence. We approached him, and it was then we realized it was Jack. He seemed to have many wounds across the parts of his body we could see. None were life threatening at the moment though. I treated him there as best as I could before we moved him back into town to our med clinic."

"Our doctor, Sylvia examined him and determined he was almost dehydrated, and very mal nourished. She thought the reason he was mumbling and unable to answer questions was because of some sort of post traumatic stress. The doctor's treatment was fluids, food, and lots of rest. She sedated him and strapped him to a gurney so he would not be harmful to others or himself, and attached an I.V. that would re hydrate him. He stayed in the med clinic for a week before he was aware of his surroundings."

"I was there along with our commanding officer, Captain Fadden, as Jack Keaton was interrogated. He had no recollection of how he had managed to get back, or what happened to him along they way. He did recall however, the place called Shady Paradise. He said it only took his family about five days to get to the mountain range that was described by Nom. At the base built into the side of the mountain there was this strange fortification there. They saw high towers and long walls made out of brick. The Keaton's had went to the entrance where huge wooden doors stood before them. They did no see anyone in the front, so they pounded on the door. They were greeted by a group of people, wearing strange obsidian robes with hoods. They were welcomed and shown to their new domicile, along with some land that was within the boundaries of the walls where they were able to keep their Brahmin and grow food. Jack told us that everything seemed really well there. They met others who had traveled far as well, and all felt really safe in this new place."

Zack looked up over at Amber and saw that she was stroking David's hair as he slept. David every now and then would shudder, and moan slightly.

_"The stuttering, sweating, and night shudders. Now I understand. Poor guy."_

Amber took notice of Zack's silence and looked into his eyes. "Was that all he could remember?" She asked.

Zack sat for a moment. "No, there is more. How long has he been without a fix?"

She winced at this question. "I was hoping that you wouldn't notice. He uses jet quite regularly to help in the manual labor he does. It allows him to work longer and harder than the others. He had to kick his habit though to be able to afford our traveling supplies and to clear a few debts we had. He doesn't strike out against me in anger or anything, so you don't have to worry about that."

Zack nodded. "I've heard that if you can make it a week without the junk and get it completely out of your system, you'll be good."

"I hope so." She said softly.

Zack continued on with what was told. "Well, Jack said a few weeks had gone by, and the only thing out of the ordinary was they were asked to attend a weekly meeting with the elders of the group. The meetings were strange and everyone was to meet in some kind of hall. Words were read from a large book about the some kind of makers he had never heard of, how they created the world, and the way we angered them with all the hatred we put upon others. So the makers released these giant lizard creatures who could breathe fire upon the world to cause havoc and destroy the evil ones and their cities if sin. It was now their job to pray diligently to the makers, and prepare for the day they must continue the work of the dragons had started, and remove all the non believers from the wastes. Jack Keaton thought this to be absurd, so he and his family stopped attending. They were told by other residents that they need to go to the meetings to understand history. Jack shrugged them off. They were visited by the elders a few times and told it was imperative they go, and prepare for the coming times. Jack still didn't go, and then a few days went by and his wife went missing. He searched everywhere, and found her dead, her body attached to a wall with spikes and the words non believer written on her chest with charcoal."

"That is horrible." Amber eyes had started to water.

"Yeah, I know. It just gets worse. Angered by what Jack saw he went back to his home, and got a blade he kept, and went to search for blood. He found the elders in the audience hall, their backs turned. He told us he yelled at them, not remembering what he had cursed. They had turned around, he saw his two daughters in between them. He then repeated what they said. Hello Mr. Keaton, since you decided to be a non believer, we had to take certain actions so others would not fall astray. Your daughters have chosen the right path. They are with us, and follow the maker's teachings. One of the elders handed a small blade to one of his daughters. She took it, an absent look on her face as she spoke aloud. For the makers! Then slit her throat. Jack told us he remembered screaming, but could not recall anything until he woke up in our med clinic. He told us he wished he listened to us, and never put his family in harms way."

Zack shifted to a more comfortable position. "We believed what he told us, and allowed him to return to his old home. We found him dead a week later. He hung himself from a pipe in his basement, there was no note left behind, but we figured why he did it. Now, I tell you all of this in great detail to hope you will not go to Shady Paradise. It will only be the end of you or your soul."

"Yes, this sadly changes everything. I feel so stupid for believing the lies. We have nothing to go back to, and nowhere to go. I don't know what we'll do."

Zack sighed. "Look, I think you two are decent people. If you head south of here and come to interstate eight, follow it east and you will find my town of Polvo. Tell them I have sent you, to allow you entrance and residence. There should be enough room as long as you make yourselves useful."

"Oh thank you, that sounds so wonderful. I don't really know what to say."

"Just promise me you won't go to Shady Paradise." Zack commanded.

"Don't worry. It's the last place I'd like to be."

Zack was glad he persuaded her to make the right choice. He then went back to the carcass, cutting away as much meat as he could from the animal, and cooked it. After it was done, he gave most of it to Amber, so they could eat it later as now it would not spoil as quickly. Zack put the small amount for himself in his pack. Amber and he both said their goodbyes while David slept on.

"Hope to see you again someday." She said with sadness in her voice. "You seem like a good person to be friends with and have around. Take care of yourself."

"You do the same."

Zack then grabbed his belongings, and made his way out of the clearing. He traveled for a few more hours. The sun had risen just a bit ago, and the heat was already starting to increase. He came to a beaten up two way road, and saw a small building to his right which sat next to the side of the road. He made his way to it. It appeared to be some kind of toll booth. A sign on it read, "Welcome to Sandy Lake Recreational Park." Zack went to the side of the building, and found a door, it was unlocked. The place looked just the right size for him to rest for the time being.


	7. Camping Is Intense

August 18th, 2279

Zack sprinted down along the road and crouched down by a burnt out car. He peered around the side of the rear end of the car and scanned the area. He motioned with his left hand to move up, but when looked back, he was all alone.

_"Damn, where are the others?"_

Zack pulled his assault rifle up and moved up to one of the buildings that served as the entrance of the town, with his back against the wall. He then moved down the street, checking building alcoves, windows, rooftops, but did not see anyone or anything. He came to a building which was badly damaged on the left side, it was collapsing inward. A sign read "City Library" on a bronze plate attached to a wall near some stairs leading up to the entrance. Zack stopped in his tracks. A body was sprawled about along the steps. He moved slowly up, assault rifle arching back and forth as he walked. He then saw who it was.

_"Alex! What happened to you?"_

He walked up the stairs and went inside the library. The doors creaked so loudly that he thought for sure the sound was heard everywhere in the small city. Once inside he listened for any sounds, and looked for any movement. Neither occurred, and he made his way forward. He walked down the rows of shelves littered with degraded books, most likely unusable. Zack came to an open area with desks with old computer terminals sitting on them. He spotted blood spattered across a few of the desks. Alarmed, Zack quickly moved to the other side of the area. From what was in front of him, he had to use all of his willpower to keep his stomach from erupting. The carpet was stained with blood, and littered with body parts. Near the center, he found the remains of three badly torn up bodies. He closed his eyes and cursed. It was Jeremy, Darren, and Gavin, the rest of his squad.

_"This was only supposed to be a recon mission, damn it!"_

Zack heard the sound of breathing behind him. He quickly turned around and saw what had caused the demise of his squad. Standing ominously four feet taller than him, arms flexed ready to strike, was a Deathclaw. Zack's eyes widen, and he drew his assault rifle up aiming at the beast's core, and squeezed the trigger. All was heard was a faint click from his gun. It did not fire. The Deathclaw grunted a few times as if laughing at him, and swung its right arm. Zack had little time to react, he tried lean backwards to avoid the attack, but his left arm was struck.

The pain was so unbearable he dropped his assault rifle and covered his wound with his right arm. He turned around and ran. He saw a door way ahead of him, and could hear the thumps of the Deathclaw's feet in pursuit. Zack made it through the door shutting it behind him, and locking it with his good arm. The room was some sort of maintenance storage area, which had a ladder bolted against the wall leading up to what Zack thought would be the roof. The Deathclaw started pounding at the door.

_"That door won't last two minutes."_

Zack made his way up the ladder as fast as his wounded arm allowed. He had to push open a latched door once at the top to gain access to the roof. He pulled himself up, and rolled over on his back. He closed his eyes, and tried to fight the pain in his arm.

_"No way can that monster make it up here. It's too big."_

Zack heard a low growling sound from his right. He opened his eyes and looked over, his mind racing on what would be there. Another Deathclaw was up here, and it started making its way towards him.

_"Can't I catch a break today?"_

Zack got up and starting backing away as the Deathclaw moved closer. He pulled out his combat knife, his last defense. As Zack moved further back, he felt one of his feet halfway off the building, he had to quickly pull it back and fought to regain his balance. The Deathclaw starting sprinting towards him and Zack prepared to thrust his arm, trying to aim for the creature's throat. The Deathclaw was too fast however. It attacked and its claws pierced Zack's chest and stomach. Breathing became difficult for Zack. Most likely one of his lungs had been penetrated. He dropped his now useless knife and coughed up blood. The Deathclaw lifted him up into the air and flung him off the building. Zack looked to the ground, his impending doom coming closer with each second. He was about to impact-

Zack woke up quickly and let out a short cry. His heart was thumping loudly in his chest, and he was breathing rapidly. It felt like he had actually landed on the floor of the toll booth. His arms and legs seem to be in pain, and he had a hard time moving them. After about half of minute Zack realized where he was and let out a sigh of relief.

_"It was just a nightmare."_

This recon mission had actually happened. It was a couple of years ago when Zack was ordered to lead a squad to check out a city nearby his town where caravans and traders had been disappearing over the last few months. The squad went expecting to find some new raider group that had moved in, but found a lone Deathclaw inhabitant instead. The events in his dream were a lot different than the actual ones that had occurred. He was never wounded by the Deathclaw, or thrown from a rooftop. Zack only lost two members of his team, Darren and Gavin. They were ripped apart by the vicious creature. With fast acting on his part, the remaining part of the squad was able to take it down with a coordinated attack. This memory has always haunted him. It was a constant reminder that no matter how well you plan, things can go wrong, very fast.

Zack sat up, and looked outside the window of the small building. The sky had a grey overcast, and he did not see any dangers from this view. He usually only preferred to travel at night, but this nightmare was a recurring one. He would not be able to sleep for quite some time. He opened his pack and removed the tin container. He ate the squirrel bits and mutfruit. The mutfruit tasted alright, but the squirrel bits were quite tough and lacked any real flavor. All Zack had left for his food supplies were a little bit of Brahmin jerky, and some cuts of cooked Jackal Rabbit. He reached for his canteen, and drank the last of the water in it. He refilled it with the water bladder from his pack. There was enough water in the bladder for about two more refills.

Zack rolled up his bedroll, and reattached it to his pack. He stood up and began to search the place for any supplies. He had been too tired when he first arrived about six hours ago. In front of him he found an old register on a counter with some pre-war money in it, useless now. There were some papers shuffled about, none looked to serve any purpose. Behind him he found two five foot lockers. The left one had a padlock on it, so he opened the right one first. Inside on the top shelf he found three boxes of .32 caliber ammo. He glanced down on the bottom and located a first aid kit. He kneeled down and grabbed the box and opened it. Inside he found a stimpak, one bottle of rad-x, and two syringes of med-x. He took all the medical supplies and put them in his pack with the ones he already had. Zack stood back up, grabbed the three boxes of ammo, and put those in his pack as well. He turned his attention to the left locker. He took out his multi tool along with a bobby pin. It took several minutes to pick the lock. He opened the locker and found nothing. It looked like it held some kind of rifle at some point in time. Disappointed, Zack closed the door.

_"Guess the ammo could be used as trading fodder, since it is meaningless to me."_He thought hopefully.

The cloud cover was starting to break up by the emerging sun. Zack pulled up his tinted goggles over his eyes and wrapped his face and head with his cloth garment. He left the toll booth, thanking no one in particular for the safe place to rest, and made his way down the road that led to the Sandy Lake Recreational Park.

After a bit of walking, Zack came to forest of the skeletal remains of burnt up dead trees. The trees were of many sizes, and all along their bases were the brownish wasteland weeds that seem to pollute the land no matter where one went. He paused for a moment when he got closer to the trees to take in the surroundings. He did not sense any immediate danger, so he continued on. After a bit of walking he came to what was left of the lake. The lake had been large when it had been full. It was just a standing crater now, with a small amount of dark color liquid near its center. The water looked too dangerous from this distance to even bother checking it. He saw a small dock with two boats tied to it, but now they rested on the ground to remain endlessly. Zack looked around from where he stood on the road. He felt some kind of presence, but did not see anything.

Zack continued on a bit more and came across a campsite to his right. A picnic table was in the center with two camp trailers on each side. He walked to the closest trailer. The door was missing from it. He went inside and found only moldy mattresses. He stepped back out of the trailer and made his way to the other. He heard the sound of movement behind him. Zack turned his body to his left and was hit by some kind of wooden weapon. Luckily since he turned, his shoulder pauldron took the bulk of the hit which was aimed at the back of his head. A small part did hit his head however, he saw white spots and his vision became blurred. Zack was pushed with his back against the side of the trailer in front of him. He felt pressure on his arms restraining him in place. He saw four fuzzy black silhouettes in front of him. He figured they were some group of raiders.

"Heya buddy." The figure in front of Zack said as he punched him in the gut a few times. He could tell the voice was male and his breath reeked of vodka. "We've have been following you for a bit, since you entered our little park, and waited for an opportune moment to introduce ourselves." Zack's head was still cloudy from the blow earlier to his head and could not muster any response. "Let's see what goodies you brought for my friends and I, shall we?" The man began to take his pack off, one arm at a time.

Zack's head was wavering from side to side. A gust of wind came rushing by, causing the branches of the trees to shake, and make an eerie sound that caused Zack to shudder. The air smelled of decayed flesh and feces. Zack's vision was just starting to come into focus.

_"That smell, it smells like a-"_

There was a loud bellow from the left, and a large hairy figure came running by on four legs. All heads turned toward it. The first man was struck with a claw and went down holding his gushing throat. The creature pounced on the next man who screamed in horror as he was mauled. The man holding Zack shouted a curse and took off. Zack slumped down to his knees. The pain in his body was still severe. The last raider was female, standing motionless, her eyes and mouth wide open. The creature finally took notice of her, latched on to her left arm with its teeth and pulled her to the ground. The screams of her dying filled the once silent campground. Zack now realizing he would be next if he did not move, went into a prone position and rolled under the trailer. He reached out his arm and pulled on his pack which barely had enough clearance to make it under. Zack placed his hand to the ring he wore around his neck and gripped it firmly.

_"Please help me."_

Zack crawled out from under the other side of the trailer and sat crouched. He placed his pack on his back. He started making his way slowly away from the trailer as silent as he could. When he felt safe enough he started to sprint, heading east. While he was running, he thought of a phrase he had heard once, "Don't feed the Yao Guai." As of right now however, he was glad someone else had done so.


	8. Fragaria Ananassa

August 18th, 2279

Zack traveled for a few hours, putting good distance away from him and the park. Along the way he checked his injury to his head, found dried blood, but otherwise it was not serious. He popped a couple of mentats to help clear his mind. The sun had been burning bright as it made its way to the horizon behind him and he took notice of the small mountain range to the north that had grown very close. He was angry with himself for wanting to explore the park. He did not remember seeing its location on his map, and was curious as what was there. Mistakes like that usually get one killed, which almost happened. During pre-war times, the lake would have been a wonderful place to go on a weekend with your family. Barbequing, swimming, and fishing would be fun activities to pass the time. The display that the campground had showed seemed like whoever had been there when the bombs dropped had decided beforehand to take their families there to try and survive the holocaust to come. Zack liked to hope that they were able to live at the park peacefully, for many years while the Earth changed to the godforsaken place it is today.

Zack came across a crumbling road which had several rusting cars resting upon it. He wondered if it was the same road that traveled through the park. Two of the cars had collided with each other, no telling how long ago it had happened. Twisted metal from each car had formed jutted upwards. The accident could have been when the bombs hit Phoenix, or sometime after when the exodus occurred. There was a decayed skeleton resting on the hood of one of the cars, with half of its body still in the vehicle. Zack glanced to the other car and saw another skeleton in the driver's seat behind the wheel. The passenger door on this vehicle was open though, so perhaps there was one survivor of this tragic accident. Zack made his way closer to the cars and quickly checked the interiors, but found nothing of use. He turned back to the east, and saw something glinting in the light. He pulled out his binoculars and focused on the object in the distance. He saw a red and silver sign atop a pole which read "Red Rocket Service Station" over some rolling hills about a mile and half from where he stood.

_"Well, I've already gone this far, they might have some supplies there."_ He thought with optimism.

The wind picked up, and caused a small dust devil to appear that traveled across the road in front of him. Zack returned his binoculars to his pack, and walked along the side of the road towards the sign in the distance.

The place appeared to be void of life as Zack approached it. He had hoped there would be a good sized town here, but found only three buildings that made up the place. There was a traffic light at the end of the buildings which had a road going towards the north to the small mountain range, and the one continuing east that he had traveled to get here. On his left was a good sized building with one story composed of red bricks with green awnings, which looked to be some kind of general goods store. Most of its windows were broken, and from what Zack could tell, the place had long been emptied of supplies. There was a smaller building next to this one painted in yellows and blues with a strange small wooden statue near the door with one arm raised up a smile across its face. The head was distorted into some enlarged three layered object with some kind of swirl on the top. A sign above the door read "Mr. Tastee's Homemade Ice Cream", the letters were faded badly and Zack had a hard time reading it at first.

_"I wonder if that stuff his head is made of is supposed to be this "ice cream" stuff."_

To his right was the Red Rocket Service station. It had two gas pumps, a convenience store, and attached to the convenience store was a two car service garage with both of its doors pulled open. Zack heard soft music coming from the open garage consisting of what he thought was piano some sort of stringed instrument. The song was beautiful to his ears, but seemed out of place here in the wastes.

Zack not talking chances this time pulled out his revolver and held it at the ready. In a light jog he made his way past the gas pumps towards the convenience store. The windows were covered in grime and he could not see anything inside. Zack took his pack off and rested it on the sidewalk there, along with his canteen as well. He crouched low he made his way to the first opening of the garage. From the overhanging roof he noticed a sort of wind chime, shell casings of different calibers were hanging around the outside of empty rusted tin can. At the moment the air was still, and it was not moving. He swung around the corner with his revolver aimed, ready to fire.

"If you're gonna to kill me, I gotta tell you I ain't got any caps or much anything of value. Unless someone is paying you to do so, then I guess I'm just shit out of luck then." A voice said in front of Zack.

Inside the garage it was dim, the only light coming from a small oil lamp hanging from the ceiling. A man wearing blue jeans and a red plaid short sleeved shirt was sitting on a wooden chair with a glass in hand. The man had tanned skin, his face looked of Asian decent and he appeared to be in his late fifties or early sixties. Most nowadays do not get the pleasure of living past their forties with all the dangers present in this world. His hair was cut short and was graying along the sides. Next to him sat a make shift table made up of two wood crates, one stacked atop the other. On the top crate sat a sawed off shotgun and a bottle of what Zack thought was sure to be alcohol. Behind the man Zack could see a bed lengthwise against the wall. A wooden book case and work bench sat next to each other against the wall as well to the foot of the bed. The shelves held an assortment of items ranging from old pre-war relics to random pieces of junk as far as Zack could tell. On the top shelf sat a still, with a dark brown liquid dripping and collecting in the larger container. The work bench held some tools as well as an old pre-war hand-crank record player placed on top. There was a cone shaped speaker protruding from it. It was the source of that wonderful music.

Zack stood up slowly, putting the revolver back in its holster as he did so. He laughed inwardly at what the man had said before him.

"Sorry, not here to kill you sir. Just passing through."

"Well in that case," The man said smiling, "if you don't mind staying awhile to chat some. It has been quite some time since anyone has been through here. Most people avoid this area like a plague."

Zack undid his head garment, and pulled his goggles down. He stared curiously at the man. "Alright, you have my interest. What's wrong with the area?"

"Ha hah! Okay, okay, first things first. The name's Rex Donovan, the most elite scavenger in all the southwest! Let me grab you a chair and get us some food." Rex placed his glass down on the crate, almost leaping out of the chair, walked over to a door to the right, and went through it. It looked to lead to the convenience store.

Zack turned around and walked out of the garage to retrieve his pack and canteen that was left on the sidewalk. He reached down and picked up the canteen and placed it loosely on his shoulder. He grabbed his pack by the top part and held it by his side. He looked around the area, all was quiet and still. The sun was just starting to disappear between the border of the land and sky. It created intense colors of intertwined reds and oranges.

_"I can see why he would settle down in a place like this."_

Zack did not know how long he had been standing on the sidewalk watching the sun disappear. Some wind sped through the street making the casings of the wind chime to tap wildly at the tin can. The sound startled Zack causing him to jump a little. He made his way back to the inside of the garage. He placed his gear on the inside wall by one of the open doors. Rex came out at this moment from the door. He was carrying another wooden chair by the arms in front of him. On the seat of the chair rested a plate that had ears of corn on it, and a bowl with red items that Zack could not identify.

"Whew, sorry took so long, thought you might have left. I wanted to heat up this corn. Helps it go down easier."

"No worries." Zack responded.

Zack helped Rex by taking the plate and bowl off the chair and held them while Rex lined up the chair on the other side of the make shift table. Rex moved his sawed off shot gun to the floor by his chair, and took the food from Zack and placed them on the crate. They both sat down, staring at the empty good store across the street in front of them.

"What's your name and where you headed?" Rex picked up one of the ears of corn and took a couple of bites off of it.

"I'm Zack. I'm making my way to New Vegas." Zack picked one up as well, and had forgotten how hungry he had been. It was warm and had just a nice amount of salt on it. He finished his in less than a minute.

"Damn boy! What's the matter, they don't feed ya where you come from?" Rex asked while chuckling.

Zack shook his head a few times. "Sorry, just didn't realize I hadn't eaten much today."

"You think the corn is good, try one of these." Rex picked up the bowl of red things, and offered it to Zack.

Zack looked down at them, still not sure what they were or if they would kill him. They looked like some sort of fruit. They had small yellow specs covering its body. He picked up one of them by a leafy stem, and took a bite from the smaller end of it. The flavor from it surged in his mouth. It was very sweet, and seemed to be full of moisture at the same time. He quickly put the rest of it in his mouth to eat.

Rex let out a roar of laughter while he slapped his leg. "Pretty good huh? Won't find these just anywhere in the wastes."

"Their wonderful, what are they?" He asked as he went to grab another one.

"They're called strawberries. I have a small garden behind this garage growing all sorts of things. You see, quite a few years back I came across this shed in someone's back yard. I had to move some boxes, but found some doors under them with stairs leading down. I found a metal door, which was open, inside was a shelter of some kind, most likely to protect against the bombs. I'm guessing whoever it belonged too got trapped in some city when the bombs fell, and never got to use it. Inside was a treasure trove of items, food, water, weapons, and even a box of lots of these little packets full of seeds. There were a lot of different kinds of fruits and vegetables. On the package it said they'd be good for hundreds of years, and it's what I've been surviving on for a long time."

"Strawberries huh? Well, thank you for sharing them. Others wouldn't do the same thing in your position."

"Yeah, but most people are assholes. They'll get what is coming to them. Good old karma makes sure of that. So, you seem like an upright kind of guy. Why are you heading to a crazy place like New Vegas? I've been through there a couple of times for business, and have always come out worse than I went in!"

Zack sat for a moment before answering. "Well, I have business with someone that needs to be taken care of."

Rex studied his face as he said this. "Ah, you have that look of revenge in your eyes. I've seen that look all too often. You're more likely to get killed before you get the job done."

"If that's the way things are meant to be, so be it. But, I'm still going to try." Zack said coldly.

"Well alright, best of luck to ya Zack. Just watch your back in that place. Most people there are liars, thieves, killers, and just down right fucks."

"Yeah I know. I won't be able to live with myself till I go there though."

The music that had been playing softly had ceased. Zack looked back at the record player. "Think we can put that on again? It was quite comforting."

"Ah so you like Bach? You have good taste in music." Rex got up to attend to the record player.

"You lied you know." Zack called over his shoulder. "You do have something of value. That thing has to be worth its weight in caps to the right buyer."

Rex laughed loudly. "Yeah, I did, but even the smartest raider wouldn't figure that out. Most don't know their face from their ass."

The music started playing again, and Rex sat back down. They continued eating at the corn and strawberries. They ate in silence listening to the soothing music playing behind them, while watching the last bit of light dissolve into the coming night.


	9. Let There Be Dust

August 18th, 2279

After Zack and Rex finished the corn and strawberries, Rex poured himself some scotch from the bottle that still rested on the crate and offered some to Zack. Zack declined and got up from his chair and went for his canteen instead. He took a few swigs from the canteen and then placed it back down. He went into his pack and retrieved his map from its false bottom hiding place. Zack moved to the crate and took the plate, bowl, and bottle of scotch off the crate and placed them near the shotgun on the ground that was already there. He unfolded his map and laid it out across the crate, the sides overlapping the small surface area.

"Don't suppose I could ask you some questions about the area now?" Zack asked as he turned his chair to face the map. The map was on a large piece of brownish yellowing paper with frayed corners. It could not be modified in its current state however, someone had used clear tape and covered the front and back with it as a way to preserve it.

"Why sure. But first can you help me get these doors closed. Rad Scorpions tend to wander nearby at night." Zack helped him close each one. Rex latched them on the bottom with dead bolts sealing them in. He then turned his chair to face the map as well, still taking sips of his drink. "My my, this is a very detailed piece of work. From some of the trails drawn on here my guess you got this from a caravan owner. Or did you just happen to come across some ambushed caravan somewhere and get it off a rotting corpse?"

Zack shook his head. "It was from one of the caravans that visited my town once a month. A guard there had been running with caravans most of his life, and was planning on retiring from the business. He'd been to many places in the southwest, but mainly Arizona. There's only a little bit of information on California, Nevada, and New Mexico. I bought the map off him for a good amount of caps, he seemed glad to be rid of it."

Zack gestured on the map with his finger, "This is where I started, my town of Polvo, and I was making my way up like this." He moved his finger in the direction he traveled. "I went through a park a ways back, and am not too sure how long I had been traveling. I have no idea where I'm currently at on the map. Does this place have a name? Is it on this map?"

Rex concentrated on the map while he shook his head. "This place has no formal name that I know of. I believe it used to be a rest stop, just a place to fill up when heading into Phoenix. Ah here!" He pointed on the map. "You see these two mountain ranges near each other. The smaller one here is the one north of us and this big blacked out area is what I was talking about earlier, why people don't come here to often."

"What's there?" Zack asked quickly.

"Well, rumor from some of the people that do pass by say that in the pre-war days there was some kind of military base on the other side of that mountain. That road at the traffic light heading north leads to that base. It was one of those missile silo bases. Some think they had three or more of them in those silos. It's said that they had orders to launch their weapons at designated targets, I have no clue as to where, maybe China. Each missile needed two people to fire it, each with their own key. One of the men stationed there couldn't bring him self to launch them though, he knew we were at war, but he didn't want to be responsible for the killing of millions. He and his counterpart fought about it, the arguing got heated, and he killed the man who wanted to launch the missiles. Feeling horrible about what he had done, he knew he couldn't let those weapons fall to enemies hands. So he armed them with his key, and he had them detonate them in that base underground. The area has been glowing ever since. Because the base was underground however, most of the radiation stayed on that side of the mountain. People are fearful of this place still, but I've lived here for a few years with no problems so far. So I'd advise you not go through that area. There are packets of intense radiation that will make you drop to you knees."

Rex drank the last of his scotch, and leaned back down to grab the bottle at his feet. "Do you think you would have been able to launch those things? Knowing full well what they would do?"

Zack stared at the wall behind Rex for a bit. "Not too sure what I would have done in his place. I couldn't take the lives of innocent civilians, even if they had just done the same to us."

"Yep, I hear that. But, if they did launch those missiles, what was left for them? Just the destruction of everyone thing they loved and cared for." Rex said with a frown.

Looking back to the map Zack tried to change to subject. "Any thoughts on where I should go to get past this place?"

"Sure, you could go back the way you came, but that would take you a bit of traveling, and not many settlements around. I'd say keep heading east till you past this mountain, and you near that other mountain range, the Estrella Mountains. They run north and south. Follow along at its base, north, and you should be fine. See here." He pointed to the map. "This place, Cherry Cliff, it's a decent sized place you can stock up supplies from. I've been there a few times. I heard they got that mine going finally. From there you can continue to New Vegas."

"Alright, that sounds like it could work." Zack scratched at the stubble on his check, he usually kept clean shaven, but now the hairs were starting to agitate him. "Any other dangers I need to worry about?

"Aside from the normal shit? Um, well, Rad Hawks get real big around that area, they've been known to pick up a heavy man with their huge talons. They're really easy to spot though, just look for the shadows moving fast along the ground, or their black silhouette in the sky. They don't like fire too much though. Don't know really why, but it will keep them back."

"Thanks for the information Rex. I probably would have followed that road to the military base and ended up dead.

"No problem. Us wastelanders all gotta stick together." Rex said grinning.

Zack folded up his map, got up and placed it back in his pack. He went and sat back down across from Rex. They talked for a few hours while music serenaded the air. They covered all subjects from Rex's early years of scavenging, first starting out mainly in California until the New California Republic and Brotherhood of Steel started to really crack down on scavengers taking weapons, tech, and supplies that could better serve their needs. Rex then spent some time in Nevada, and finally making his way to Arizona. He had a partner named Cecilia along most of the way. He thought they loved each other, but one night she took off with all their caps and note with only the word "Sorry". Zack told him of his time working as part of the militia, protecting the town and its people, and some missions he was sent on. Zack kept his childhood past from the conversation however. He did not want to relive those memories at this time.

After Rex finished another bottle of scotch they decided to call it a night. Rex took to his bed and Zack to his bedroll. Zack awoke first, it was early morning. The sleep had been refreshing and dreamless. Zack shook Rex a bit to wake him up. He seemed to be quite hung-over and took some time to come around. Rex tried to stand up, but staggered, and Zack helped him sit back down.

"No need to get up, just got to you let you know that I'm heading out. Thank you for the food, music, and shelter."

"Ah, wasn't anything. Thanks for the company. There is a small hand pump on the side of this garage. The water is a little irradiated, but it won't make you sick. I put some food by your pack before I went to sleep, don't worry none, I can spare it. This might sound a little cliche, but good luck in New Vegas Zack."

"Thanks, perhaps I'll come back this way if I return, and let you know how things played out." He responded smiley slightly.

"Alright sounds good, now let an old man sleep this off. You can get out through the store in the front." He lay back down on his bed and closed his eyes.

Zack got his belongings together. Near his pack he found three ears of corn, two cans of pork n' beans, and a few strawberries. He smiled and packed the corn and cans in his with his other food. He placed his pack and canteen on, and made his way out of the building. He ate the delicious strawberries as he left, knowing they would not survive long in the aridness of the wastes. They tasted as good as last night. Outside, the sun was not up yet, the stars still glittering above him. Zack made his way to the water pump. He pumped it a few times and let some water pass through to clear any dirt out, and then he filled his water bladder and canteen. He then made his way to the road that led east out of the rest stop.

Zack had been trekking for what he though must have been five or six miles. The sun had risen before him a few hours ago, and the sky was cloudless. He had brought his goggles to his eyes, and wrapped his head up as well. Zack was starting to notice the road was becoming harder to follow. It was covered with an abundance of dirt which only small packets of asphalt could be seen checkered through it. He saw lots of debris along the side of the road in the ditch. Mainly just garbage such as cardboard and paper were scattered there, but there were larger items as well, old pre-war toys, some cooking pots, and even a fridge with its door missing. Zack did not understand these cues till later that day.

After walking a bit more, Zack saw that he was coming to the end of the smaller mountain range. He was glad that it was near. He was anxious to continue making his way to New Vegas. Going through that park had cost him many miles of travel, and time wasted. Doing so though however had allowed him to come across Rex Donovan, who offered him more than most would have bothered to. He felt wind rush past him from the south, causing the dirt in front of him to drift like the tide of the ocean. Zack heard movement to his right, and before him a pack of five Jackal Rabbits ran past across the road towards the mountain. Zack readied himself, about to pull his revolver out, but then realized they took no notice of him, as if they were fleeing something. Zack turned to the south, pulled his goggles to his forehead, his stomach tightened and everything clicked.

"_Damn! I thought the season was over. It must last longer here."_

A good distance away before Zack, was a huge wall, made up of rolling clouds of dirt, sand, and anything else that it just happened to pick up. The dust storm covered the entire horizon of the south, and was heading straight for him. Realizing he had not passed any form of shelter since he had left Rex's, he became quickly worried. He looked back to the road, and saw that it disappeared around large rock groupings ahead of him. He thought of trying to tie himself to a boulder, but he knew he could be covered with dirt, and might suffocate. It was his only chance that something beyond those rocks there would be a place he could find refuge in. Knowing that he would be engulfed in the dust storm in a matter of minutes, he lowered his goggles back to his eyes, and he broke into a run.

As he made his way around the rock groupings, the fringes of the dust storm were just starting to surround him. It was not too threatening yet, it just was hard on his vision. Zack quickly looked around in front of him, but could not find anything that would suffice. He kept running trying to follow the path of the road as best as he could, most of it was now completely hidden.

Zack continued to run, his lungs burning as he choked for breath. Just as the main part of the storm enclosed around him, he saw a dark rectangle shape not too far away. He made his way to it, and along the way he could feel dirt and dust forcing its way between the layer of his clothes and skin. As he approached the object, he found that it had been a semi trailer that was turned on its side. Small pebbles started to pelt him from all directions. He quickly went to the rear doors and unlatched the upper door. He pulled it open with his right hand, and put his weight on his left on the lower door, and swung himself over. He cut a few of his fingers in the process on his left hand on some jagged metal that stuck out. The door closed behind him, stealing all the light along with it. Zack lay in the trailer on his back coughing up dust that had breached his head wrap. He lay there for a few minutes relaxing, hearing the wind howl around him and objects bang against the side of the semi trailer like some demonically composed song.


	10. No Man Is An Island

August 19th, 2279

After pulling his head wrap and goggles down, Zack turned his head to the side coughing and spitting out the remnants of dirt still present in his mouth. He was more pissed about the fast coming dust storm than the joy of finding shelter when he did so. Zack sat up cursing as he did, and put his back to what would have been the roof of the trailer. His eyes took some time to adjust to the darkness. The trailer smelled stale and dusty. He looked over at the upper door that he had unlatched to get in. It seemed heavy enough that the storm would not be able to lift it. The thought of some random person coming by and locking him in passed through his mind. He shook this thought off however, it was too unlikely anyone had seen him enter the trailer, or even if they dared to navigate through the dust storm.

Zack stood up, made his way towards the other end of the trailer furthest from the door. He took off his pack as he walked and held it at his side. The trailer seemed void of anything except an empty metal box in front of him. Either the truck had been traveling empty, or had been looted at some point. He reached down and pulled the metal box along with him with his free hand and let go of it when he was near the end. He opened his duster and undid the strap to his steel pauldron. He took his duster off along with the pauldron, shook it of dust, folded it up and placed it on the floor. Zack stripped the rest of his clothes and gear down to his thread bare boxer shorts. He followed the same routine with all his clothes, trying to shake all the dust from them and the folded them up neatly stacked atop his duster. He took the spare shirt out of his pack. It was a light brown in color. He soaked it with a little water from his canteen, and wiped off his body, face, and neck to get rid of the dust and dirt covering it. The cuts to his fingers were of little concern. The blood had already dried on them. He did his best to clean them with the soaked shirt.

Zack pulled out his spare set of socks. The ones he had been wearing were in bad condition. He redressed just in his pants, the navy blue shirt, and the fresh socks. He rolled his bed roll down in front of the metal box and sat cross legged in front of it. He took out some chewing gum from his pouch and popped it into his mouth. Zack stared into the darkness chewing the semi sweet gum wondering how long dust storms usually last in this area. In his town of Polvo, they could be as short as an hour, or up to four days. He hoped it would not be the latter. He would not have enough water to wait here that long and then make his way to Cherry Cliff.

Zack reached over to his pack and took out his metal plate, his battered lighter, and one bottle of wonder glue. He placed the plate upside down on the metal box, squeezed a decent amount of wonder glue on it in the center. Zack looked down at the mass in front of him. Even in the darkness, it looked like some elegant desert a waiter would have brought some rich business man at a fancy restaurant that he had to put in a reservation a year in advance. He lit the glue with his lighter. It burned an intense red color which illuminated the trailer quite well. It was an old trick he learned from his friend, Alex, when he had first joined the militia and was posted on third shift guard duty. There was some ingredient in the glue that allowed it to burn bright and slow just like the oil in some lamps. It was done to light fires quickly or to signal others. If he used it sparingly, he would have enough to last a few days with the other bottle in his pack. With the thought of Alex in his mind, he tried to figure out what day it was. He kept no calendar with him, but he remembered the day he left. He worked some math in his head, it was the nineteenth. It was Alex's birthday today.

"_Happy birthday man, whatever you're doing at this moment. Hope it's more fun than where I am."_

Alex had just turned twenty eight, a little more than two years older than Zack. He had left a gift with his Alex's father before he left. He said he would make sure that Alex received it today. A large caravan had visited four days before he left. This was the same caravan that he got his map from as well. He was able to trade his assault rifle, which he kept in pristine condition, for a set of desert colored combat armor, which came with the same color fatigues and brown combat boots. The reason this gift was special though was because Alex had always talked about wanting it over the years, but never could find the correct size for him. It was great luck to find the correct size for Alex so close to him leaving towards New Vegas. Alex was almost the complete opposite of him appearance wise. Zack had tanned light skin, medium build, decent toned body, and was tall. Alex was dark skinned, large build, all muscle, and was only about five eight in height. He kept a neatly trimmed goatee and kept his head trimmed short. Alex was excellent with melee weapons, unarmed combat, and could utilize big guns quite well. Polvo had a flamer at its disposal which Alex had used on more than one occasion. Whatever he did, no matter what kind of job it was, he usually always did it with a smile on his face. He loved to joke, loved to drink, and loved to show off.

Zack remembered back to the day when he and his mother had arrived into Polvo on that Brahmin pulled wagon fourteen years ago. A friend of Zack's father told them that it was a place he had been to a few times in his past, that someone there owed him a favor , and it seemed a safe place for them to hide out. Zack got off the wagon first, taking in the surroundings that would become his new home. The place was not large, but felt welcoming. It was then he noticed Alex, he was standing on the sidewalk by his parent's store. Alex, after seeing this new person in town, with not many others of his age to spend time with, made his way over and introduced himself to Zack. They became excellent friends in no time, and have been so ever since.

Alex usually worked in his parent's store each day. It had been a drug store in pre-war days, but now it served as trading post for the town. His mother ran the front counter of the place while his father worked in the back at his bench, repairing items for people, as well as making new ones to sell. Alex's job was mainly just to help out where he could. He would keep the place clean, deliver goods to the people of the town, and help with moving inventory. The inventory was sometimes quite heavy, which is how Alex acquired most of his muscle from. Alex showed Zack his all around the area, the safe places, the dangerous ones, and the best places to hunt and scavenge. Alex had wanted to join the town's militia ever since he was younger but had to wait till he was sixteen to do so. As time went by, Zack looked up to Alex as a role model, now that his father was gone, and decided to do the same and join the militia when he turned sixteen. Zack's mother had been against it at first, but then realized that it was something he would excel at, and let him be.

Everyone had to be of use to live in Polvo, and working in the militia was demanding work. It involved a lot of training, patrolling, shooting, and long periods of sitting around waiting for combat. Zack did not have his father's gun at this time. He was issued a hunting rifle from the armory. The gun was in average condition, but the sights were a bit bent, and took some time to get them adjusted to be able to fire accurately. Luckily Zack was able to join Alex's squad on guard duty. They patrolled the border of the town during the late night and early morning. It was usually where they stuck the new guys, as most of the raider's attacks occurred during the night. It turned out they both actually enjoyed it though, and requested that they stay on indefinitely. Alex was the one with more experience in the militia than Zack, but it was Zack who was promoted to Sergeant when he turned twenty. Alex did not mind though, he was more of a follower than a leader, and loved to lead point in an assault.

The memories of Alex brought a smile to Zack's face as he sat there starting into the dancing flame of the wonder glue. The smile faded quickly though when a very large object hit the trailer sending vibrations all through it. Dust descended from above Zack, which finally rested on his legs. Zack reached over grabbed his holster and took out his revolver. He then went into his pack and pulled out his gun cleaning kit. He wanted to make sure that no dirt or dust got in the way of any of the parts, gears or firing mechanism. He could not tolerate weapons that did not perform at their best. He spent the next few hours cleaning the revolver. He broke it down into all of its base components, cleaned each piece and oiled all the parts that required it. Zack liked to clean weapons more than his father had. It was relaxing and acted almost as a form of meditation for him. There was just something about taking an object apart, cleaning it, resembling it, and seeing it the difference afterwards that you made upon it.

Satisfied with the now clean revolver, he grabbed his holster and made sure the inside of it was dirt free as well. He then placed the gun back in there and set it by his pack. He reached over and pulled his duster and set it on his lap. He reached to the inside pocket and pulled out a small thin box. It was a pack of playing cards. The writing on the box was faded, the corners were frayed, and the bottom had an ever expanding hole in it. He opened the top of the box and slid the cards out into the palm of his hand. Along with the cards fell out a coin made of silver.

The coin was about an inch and half in diameter and along its edge was reeded like one of the old pre-war quarters had been. On its front was a head of man looking to the left. Zack had no idea who this man had been, but he must have been of some importance in history to have his face placed on here. There was writing that Zack could not read, it was one of the old languages. On the reverse side there was an intricate design of a coat of arms along with a date, 1944. Zack's father had told him had been from Europe and was most likely the last of its kind. It had been passed down in his family for a long time. The playing cards and coin were left in the footlocker with the rest of his father's belongings. That same deck of cards had been the one that his father taught him how to play poker with. His father never would just let him win. Zack always had to earn it. It was one of the reasons Zack became the skilled player his is today. The coin served as his father's card guard while he played and to the people who played against him, they swore it was a where all his great luck came from.

Zack placed the cards on the metal box, and moved the coin the back and forth through the fingers in his right hand remembering how his father had done so when he was young. When he first saw his father do this he was in awe of it, and thought it was somehow magic how fast he could do it. His father used to tease him when Zack tried to do it himself, but eventually his father taught him how to do it. He put the coin on the metal box, picked up the plate with the burning glue on it and placed it on the ground beside the box. He then picked up the playing cards, the backs were of a fading blue, on the front the whiteness of the cards had all but vanished on them, only remained was a brownish yellow. He absent mindedly shuffled the deck while listening to the storm rage outside. Zack had not idea how much time passed while he sat playing different variations of solitaire. He thought it would be best to get some rest, he extinguished the flame, and he placed his lighter and wonder glue bottle by the plate on the ground. He adjusted his bed roll, propped his feet on the metal box, and closed his eyes.

Zack awoke, taking sometime to remember where he was, and then wondered how long he had slept for. Groaning as he sat up, he reached around blindly for his lighter. He was able to find after some time and re lit the wonder glue remaining on the plate. His stomach ached with hunger. He realized he had forgotten to eat anything since he made his way into this trailer. He reached in his pack and grabbed his metal spoon and a can of pork n' beans. He opened the can with his combat knife, and ate its entirety cold. He then realized that he was quite parched. He reached for his canteen and drank about half its contents with a few gulps. He was angry at himself at this though, he knew he needed to conserve his water. It was then Zack realized that the storm that had been playing in the background for the past day was no longer present. He got up and walked over to the trailer doors. He opened the upper door slowly and gazed out. It seemed the storm had either moved on to some other area, or maybe its wrath had finally concluded. The moon could be seen from where Zack peered out. It appeared to be early morning of the next day.

_"I'm glad that it didn't last any longer. I would have gone stir crazy in here."_

Zack lowered the door, and went back to the front of trailer to redress and pack up his belongings. It took about fifteen minutes till he was content how the weight of everything sat upon him. He made his way back to the doors, lifting the upper one while taking care of the jagged metal on the lower one, and exited the trailer that had served as his fortress against the bombarding dust storm for the past day.


	11. Heads I Win, Tails You Lose

August 20th, 2279

Zack walked around the outside of the semi trailer to see what damage had been done to it. Dirt and sand was heavily built along the south side of the trailer creating almost a ramp that one could walk up. He went around to the other side and saw what had impacted on the previous day. It was some kind of ladder attached to an orange smooth curved piece of long plastic. Zack had seen this object before. It was part of those places that the kids used to play at during the pre-war days. He could not remember the name of the object in front of him, just that it usually belonged on a play ground.

Zack tried to find the road that he was following before the dust storm hit. It was completely gone now, covered by who knows how many inches of dirt. He decided that it would just be best to continue on towards the mountains in front of him. The Estrella Mountains, as Rex had told him. Zack had no clue if this was a pre-war name for it, or one that some local had come up with and it just happen to stick. Either way, he started off.

After much walking, the sun was starting to show its lovely bright self just over the mountains he was heading towards. He pulled his goggles to his eyes, but kept his head wrap off at the moment so he would be able to hear without trouble. He took notice to how much cacti grew in this area, a lot more than the area around Polvo. Cactus was an excellent survivalist. They had the means to defend themselves with spines, needed very little water, and could live up to three hundred years. One had to be careful of some breeds of cacti though. Most were harmless, only having small spines that scratched you if you got too close, but others like the saguaro, after being radiated, were able to swing its arms at threats nearby. It was even rumored that when they were ready to breed they would pull themselves out of the ground, and walk great distances using its roots as feet to find a suitable mate.

Deciding it was time for a break, he found an old deadened juniper tree that offered some peaceful shade. He sat down with his back to the trunk of the tree and took some sips from his canteen. Some sweat ran down his check and traveled under his jaw. The movement caused his face to itch and he ran his hand on the side of his face. The beard growth there annoyed him and he opened his pack to retrieve his razor. He splashed some water on his face, and tried his best to shave without the aid of a mirror. After he finished he felt each side of his face and thought it was the best he could do under current circumstances. He pulled out his map and check where exactly Cherry Cliff was again, once he passed the smaller mountain range, he could start making his way northeast towards it. He took out and ate one ear of corn and the rest of the Jackal Rabbit meat. He returned his map and starting traveling once again. He wrapped his head up and kept his eyes to the sky for Rad Hawks, which most likely hunted during daylight.

The bulk of the day passed without incident and it was nearing the end of the afternoon, he had been walking for almost twelve hours. Zack was pushing himself for the miles that had been lost the last couple of days. His back was sore and with each step he took, his legs burned with pain as a reminder they were just about done for the day. Even with all the discomfort coursing through his body, he continued on. Just as the sun making its way towards the horizon behind him, he thought it best to find place to make camp. He undid his head wrap, and pulled his goggles to his forehead. Up ahead he saw what looked like some kind of crude shack made of sheet metal and wood. It looked like it would be effective shelter for the evening, and he made his way towards it. He took out his father's coin from the inside of his duster and moved it across his fingers as he had done yesterday.

As he closed the distance to the metal shack light was starting to fade from the sky. For a moment Zack thought he saw smoke appear on the other side of the shack.

___"Damn, someone must have had the same idea I had. Maybe they're willing to share the space if I share some food."_

Zack was just beginning to pass the backside of the shack, when a man stepped out from the other side of the building holding a ripper in his right hand and wore a menacing smile. He was dressed in leather armor, wore a blue bandanna on his head, and had on black boots with no laces. The man's nose looked like it had broken in the past and never healed right. His grey eyes were squinting in the fading light, and they looked like he was ready to kill. Zack had been running the silver coin in his right hand which prevented him from instinctively drawing his revolver from behind his duster. He still could try and pull it, but this man in front of him was close enough that any movement might make him pounce. Even if he could get a shot off, that ripper would make lunch meat of him. Zack was in trouble. Thoughts raced through his mind of what he could possibly do to come out unscathed.

"Well alright! I thought I heard some fuck trying to sneak up on here. Looks like you're dumb enough too, waltzing around out here without a weapon." The man said laughing afterwards.

_"Good, he doesn't see my holster."  
_  
"I wasn't really sneaking, I thought there would be someone here to share camp with. I was mistaken. I'll gladly look elsewhere and leave you be."

The man shook his head a few times his yellowing teeth forming a wicked grin. "I was just thinking too, I wish some dumb shit would come by here with a bunch of trade goods or something that I would be able to just gut them and take the best pickings. And look, the wasteland provides." He revved the ripper a few times. It seemed like he was trying to intimidate Zack, as if he was a little afraid of him. This coupled with the fact that he smelled of booze gave Zack an idea.

_"It just might work."_

The man started to step towards Zack. "Are you by chance a gambling man?" Zack asked quickly. He starting to run the coin through his fingers again, making sure the man could see.

"Well fuck!" The man stopped moving forward as if the question intrigued him. He was about four feet from Zack. "Pretty much everyone has to be a gambler of some kind to be crazy enough to wander around the wastes. So I'd say yes I am. What of it?"

"You would really like to have all my supplies and gear right? And I would really like to live to see another day. I have this coin here." Zack lifted his hand and showed the man each side. "I'm going to flip this coin in the air and let it land on the ground. If it comes up heads, well you can cut off mine, and get all my gear. But if it lands on the shield which is tails, I'll drop all my gear here and leave with my tail still intact. Either way you win. So what do you say? Care to take that bet?" Zack tried to keep his face from showing any deceit.

"Holy shit man! What kind of stuff are you shooting up? You are a crazy fuck to come up with this kinda thing, but I like it. You've got a deal man. Seems like either way you're still screwed though, you won't last one day out here without any gear or supplies. So flip that bitch and let's get done with it!"

Zack smiled inwardly and nodded his head. He moved the coin a few more times back and forth through his fingers, making sure that the man's grey eyes followed it. He placed it on his thumb and index finger, and flipped it into the air a good three feet above their heads. The man's head rose following the coin upwards as Zack stared straight at him. Zack quickly withdrew his revolver from inside his duster and fired it twice into the man's chest. The shots broke the silence in the coming night like two huge towers made of glass had just collapsed on themselves. The man's body began to fall backwards, his eyes were wide with shock, and his mouth formed an o. The body hit the ground just as the coin landed in front of Zack's feet. Zack looked down to it.

_"Heads. Awesome."_

Zack bent down and picked up the silver coin with his left hand. As he did so he heard a distorted voice from inside the shack.

"I guess he got the worst part of the deal in that bet."

Zack with revolver still in hand moved cautiously towards the other side of the metal shack. There was a small fire burning a ways from the shack. It looked like some kind of meat was cooking on sticks over hanging the flames. He aimed his gun in front of him ready to fire as he made turned the corner. Apparently the shack was only built with three walls, or the front had blown off at some point, perhaps in the last dust storm. When Zack saw where the voice had come from, he holstered his revolver and put his coin in his pocket. He looked down at the person in front of him.

Sitting against the back of the metal shack, bounded by rope on their hands and feet was a young woman, who looked to be a little younger than Zack. She sat with her knees up and her hands resting on top of them. She wore a light blue RobCo jumpsuit with the sleeves rolled up, there was some kind of metal bracelet on her right hand, and on her feet were black and white sneakers. Her skin was light olive in color, her hair was black, it was shoulder length, and she wore it down. She had a long jaw line which ran down to a semi pointed chin. Her cheek bones sat high which caused her eyes to sit a little wide and were small. Her eyes were green, and eye brows were thin. Her nose was small and was upturned a little showing her nostrils some, but did so in a cute way. She looked to be maybe five seven in height and her body was athletically built. The left side of her face was bruised badly from her jaw to her eye. It looked like it was the product of multiple hits. Her lips were cracking and there was also some dried blood at the corner of her mouth.

"Not to be a bother, but I don't suppose you could take a moment from gawking at me to cut these?" She held up her hands in front of her towards Zack.

Zack jumped a little when she spoke. He did not know how much time had passed since he had been staring down at her. "Sorry, I can do that for you."

Zack crouched down and pulled his combat knife from its sheath, cut her hands free first, then her feet. She rubbed at her wrists, and Zack could see the ropes had chaffed them badly. She must have been tied up for sometime.

"Thank you." She said softly. "You killed that man didn't you?"

Zack took off his canteen and handed it to her, as he nodded. "Please, drink some. And yes, it was either him or me. Who was he?"

The woman drank from the canteen, choking a little as she did so. "Just some punk ass slaver. I'm glad he didn't get the best of you though. When he heard you coming he told me to keep my mouth shut, or else he'd beat the other side of my face in. I was tempted to give you warning, but I was afraid of more punishment."

"Don't worry about it, he wasn't too bright. He should've known when someone is gambling with their life, they're most likely to cheat to get out of the bet."

The woman laughed a bit at this statement which brought a smile to Zack. She looked like she had gone through a lifetimes worth of pain, and needed a good laugh.

"My name's Zack. I'm glad I came by when I did. I almost stopped for the night a little ways back. I would have never found you."

"Yes, thank you again for doing what you did. My name's Kade Harmon. Glad to meet you Zack. Do you have a last name?"

Zack shook his head. "At the moment, no, but I'm working on it."

Kade stared at him with a quizzical look.

Zack chuckled. "It's a long story. You hungry? That meat on the fire looks like it's about to burn. Let's say we have some before that happens alright?

Kade nodded happily. "Yes! Please, I'm starving."

Zack walked took off his pack and unattached his bedroll and laid it down. "Here, sit on this. It's more comfortable than the ground." She thanked him and moved onto it, her body reacting slowly to her commands. She looked tired and in agony.

___"Man that guy really did a number on her. He deserved what came to him."_

Zack walked over to the fire and collected the sticks from over the fire. It looked like mole rat meat. Not the best meat, but it would have to do. He walked back to the shack and sat down next to Kade. He gave her most of the mole rat meat and one of ears of corn from his pack. She thanked him and began eating. He started to pick the meat on his stick. It was hard to chew, but sat well in his stomach. Zack sat there watching Kade eat happily as if she had not had any food for a few days. **  
**


	12. Spoon Jacker

August 20th, 2279

Zack was done with his food, and sat patiently watching the stars appear in the sky above while Kade finished hers. She tossed the sticks aside when she finished and stretched her arms above her head taking in a deep breath as she did. Zack turned to her picking up his canteen and holding it out offering her more water. Kade shook her head.

"The food was good, but I'm afraid if I drink any more water it might cause me to throw it all back up. That jerk was real stingy with the water, and he hadn't given me any food since before that dust storm came through."

Zack nodded and opened up the canteen and drank from it. He set it down and looked over the bruises on the side of her face.

"I'd like to help you out with those injuries if you don't mind, they look like they hurt a lot."

Kade brought her hand to the left side of her face and rubbed it softly. "Are you a doctor of some kind?" She asked him.

"Not really, no. If anything I would be called a doctor's assistant. I'm a pretty decent medic though. You don't need surgery or anything, just some relief."

"Well okay, what should I do?"

"Just lay down and I'll fix you up."

Kade lay down on his bed roll with her head closest to Zack. He reached for his pack and took out his medical supplies. He pulled out one of the syringes of med-x and one stimpak and placed them on his lap. Zack turned his body towards hers still sitting.

"Now, I'm going to administer this med-x first to help with the pain. The needle will feel like a small insect is biting you. I will have to use the stimpak as well on different areas. There will be some discomfort. Your muscles on that side will feel as they are burning, but its part of the healing process. Understand?"

With her soft green eyes she looked up at Zack and nodded.

Zack took the med-x in his hand and was about to inject it, but then pulled his hand away.

"You could talk while I do this, it might help with some of the pain."

"What should I talk about?" She asked.

"Whatever comes to mind?" He thought for a moment. "Don't slavers usually have those metal collar things that they place around the neck? How come you didn't have one?"

Kade smiled. "Well, to start off I live in this settlement just south of the outskirts of the Phoenix ruins, called Dedge. There was a small mountain between Dedge and Phoenix which prevented the bombs from affecting it or covering it with radiation. From what the others told me at one point in time it was a quarry of some kind. One of those places where they take big stones from the side of mountains and ground and use it to build things. After it had been emptied, some company bought it and it was turned into a junkyard, where they put old vehicles that were outdated or didn't run anymore. The place provided excellent protection from all sides. It had the mountain to the north, and walls of cars and a barbed wire fence surrounding the rest. The only is one entrance to the place which lies to the south. In the area surrounding the entrance we keep a minefield that I help to maintain. Only the inhabitants know the clues to where the mines are. There is also an old giant old bulldozer that the founders got working and used to block the entrance when needed with its blade. It weighs so much that little is able to move it. It keeps animals and enemies out quite well."

Zack started to inject the med-x in different parts of her face. She seemed to not wince too much from it.

"Dedge huh? How did it get that name?" Zack asked while he continued to work.

"Well, originally since where it was located, in between the Phoenix ruins and the fringes of the desert wasteland it had been named Desert's Edge some fifty years ago. Caravans started to add the settlement to their routes, but they decided that Desert's Edge took too long to say in conversation, so they just condensed the two names and it was called Dedge from then on. Our major business is scavenging and repairing items. We send small teams to out to the ruins of Phoenix to look for anything of value, or items that can be fixed up and sold for a good profit, which we then trade to passing caravans."

Zack finished using the med-x and threw the syringe to the ground at his side, it was useless now. He picked up the stimpak and was readying to use it.

"How did the caravans come to trade with the minefield in place, did they know where the mines were at?"

"We had the caravans meet us at a place nearby on the outskirts of the minefield. We did have warnings about the mines posted though, so innocent people wouldn't get injured."

Zack started to inject her with the stimpak along her face. He could tell that its healing properties were working instantly by the look of distress on her face. "Was Dedge attacked by slavers recently? Is that how you came to be here?"

It looked like Kade was trying her best to keep her face still. "No, I was part of a scavenging team. There was this new place that was recently discovered near Phoenix. It was a pre-war landfill. Back then, many people took everyday commodities for granted, and tossed out a lot of stuff which if done today would be ignorant to do so. We were sent there to get an initial survey of the landfill to see if it was worth our time to try and scavenge from. I left with two other people. There was Jim, our protection, he was an alright marksman. Then there was Rhonda, who was our navigator. I was the one in charge of inspecting the landfill to see if the place could be made profitable. We never made it to the land fill however." Kade clenched her jaw as Zack used the stimpak across the lower part of her face.

"Sorry, I'm almost done. Please continue."

"We were heading down a small hill, about three miles from where the landfill was supposed to be when we saw them. There were four of them, three men, and one woman. We could tell they were slavers right off with the metal collars hanging on two of their belts. It almost seemed like they were waiting for us. It was right then they opened fire. We tried our best to find cover there were only scattered boulders to hide behind. Rhonda took a hit to her abdomen immediately before she could make it to safety. It looked like it was caused by laser fire. She laid face up screaming and clutching her stomach. Jim took position lying down behind a medium sized boulder and started to take shots with his assault rifle. I wasn't used to combat and did my best to hide crouched behind a rock as the firing continued from all around. I glanced around the edge carefully a few times and saw that Jim had scored a kill to one of the male slavers. I could hear one of them yelling to take the shooter out. One slaver was able to flank Jim while one shot a suppressing fire at the boulder he was behind. The female slaver rushed up to him from his left, and in a rage kicked Jim square in the face just as he turned to try and line up a shot to her. She shot him twice in the chest with the combat shotgun she was carrying."

Zack finished using the stimpak on her face, and held it in his hand at his side. Kade looked up to him, her eyes shaking slightly.

"Are you all done Zack?"

"Yes I am. The bruises should start to fade within the next few hours. The stimpak's medicine should help some with your wrists as well. The pain will fluctuate during this time, just to let you know."

"Thanks so much." Kade sat up rubbing the left side of her face. "It feels better already." She closed her eyes for a minute before reopening them.

"What happened after Jim was killed."

"I knew that they would be coming after me next, so I pulled one of the sticks of dynamite from my bag, I had them in case I needed to remove any obstacles. Two of the slavers made their way past Jim's body to where Rhonda lay. I could see her legs moving slightly. I've known her for some time and knew she would take death over being a slave for the remainder of her life. Also, I didn't know if her wound was life threatening or not, but I decided to do it anyways. I lit the fuse to the dynamite, and tossed it at the two slavers by Rhonda. The female one looked down as it landed near her feet. She barely got the words "Oh fuck" out of her mouth before the explosion snuffed all three of them from this world. The last slaver came up behind me as the explosion occurred and hit me from behind, knocking me out. When I came to I was leaning against a boulder with my hands and feet bound. That man standing over me was the one you killed outside. I killed the two that had all the slave collars though, so his only option was rope."

Zack looked solemnly at her. "Throwing that dynamite seemed like the best course of action at the time. At least you were able to take two of them out. I'm sure Rhonda would understand what you had to do." Zack saw a few tears run down the sides of her cheeks.

"If I hadn't been so terrified from the beginning I would have started throwing dynamite right away. The others might still be alive."

"Don't be so hard on yourself. You could have easily been shot in the process of throwing them and died out there or have a slave collar around your neck and who knows where you'd be now."

"I guess that's true. He hit me a few times there when I was leaning against that boulder. He was really pissed about the rest of his group getting killed. He dragged me up by the rope on my wrists and started pushing me from behind to start walking. One of the other slavers had picked up Jim's gun, so all were mangled beyond use in the explosion from the dynamite. So all he had was that ripper thing."

"How long have you been his prisoner? Do you know where he was taking you?"

"It's been a little over three days since we started out. When that dust storm came through, luckily we came across this old radio tower that had a small maintenance building that we stayed in. For the whole time he did nothing but talk about himself. He would go for long hours about what a great slaver he was and of the dozens of people he had sold. He never gave me a real name. He said the others only called him Spoon Jacker. He said it was from when he first started out and a person from a group they captured wouldn't stay quiet, just spat out curses and demanding to be let go. He had warned the man to shut up. The yelling continued while the slavers were eating dinner. He got pissed off, got up, grabbed one of his comrade's spoons while it was in use, and with it he went to that person and jabbed the spoon through one of the man's eyes. He said that the man didn't speak after that. That was when he walked back to dinner. His buddies were laughing up a storm, and coined his new name of Spoon Jacker. I think he said we were heading towards a place called Cherry Cliff. He told me he would be able to get a lot of caps for me there."

"Damn. The more I hear about this man, the more I wish he didn't die so fast, he deserved to suffer more." Zack turned his body and leaned his back against the metal shack. He stared down a stone in front of him. "He didn't, um, try and, force himself on you in any way, did he?"

"No!" Kade responded quickly with her voice raised. "He never did anything like that. The worst was when he would get drunk and pummel me a little. I was always fearful when he was like that. Sometimes he would pick up that ripper of his, brought it close to my face and pretended like he was going to cut me with it." She clenched her fists when she spoke, causing her knuckles to whiten.

"Sorry Kade, it felt necessary to ask."

"No, I'm sorry for getting upset. I just-. I really hated that man." She brought the back of her hand to her mouth and yawned.

"It's probably best that you get some rest. Take the bed roll. I'll use the ground. Cherry Cliff isn't too far away. My guess, another day and a half, we can head there together if you'd like. I'm in need of more supplies. Or if you prefer, we can part ways tomorrow and you could head back to Dedge."

"I have no idea where I am, or even how to get back to Dedge from here. I'd like to come with you to Cherry Cliff if that's alright."

Zack nodded. "Yeah, we can leave in the morning. I'm going to go check around the area a bit before I turn in."

"Alright, thanks again for all your help Zack." Kade lay down with her back facing the opening of the shack. She curled up with her arms held tightly to her chest.

Zack stood up and walked to where the fire had died out while he had attended to Kade. He took out his revolver and unlatched the cylinder and took out the two spent rounds. He replaced them with new ones, and returned the gun to its holster. He walked around the outside of the shack in a wide circle, checking for any signs of wildlife. Satisfied with the safety of the area, he made his way back to the metal shack for sleep.


	13. Know When To Fold Them

August 21st, 2279

The darkness from the night was starting to fade from the sky. Zack woke up. He sat up and twisted his neck to the side hearing a few pops. He looked over to where Kade lay. She was still sleeping on the bedroll lying face up. Some of her dark hair was covering part of her face. She looked peaceful and he thought it best to let her sleep for a little longer. Zack reached back and rubbed the back of neck.

_"Man, I had forgotten how bad it is to sleep on the ground."_

Zack made his way out from the open three sided shack wiping the dirt from his clothes as he walked. A light breeze flowed through the air. He stood there looking out at his surroundings in front of him and then he smelled the beginnings of decomposition coming from the dead slaver. Zack turned and walked towards the body. He crouched down by its side, while trying his best to breathe through his mouth to avoid the smell. There were many flies crawling on different parts of his exposed skin. Spoon Jacker lay there face up, his eyes were still wide open. Zack could see a few of the flies crawling near the edges of them, most likely trying to find the last bits of moisture before the desert dried him up completely.

Zack reached down to the ripper that was that was death clutched in his hand. Luckily, it was not gripped on the trigger, or that would have left a bad mess. It took a bit of force to pry it from his lifeless fingers, but eventually he was successful. He placed the ripper on the ground by his feet. He then went through his pockets, but came up empty of anything of use. There was however a pouch on his left side that Zack did not notice yesterday. He untied it from the belt, opened it, and peered inside. It was full of caps. It looked to be about a three hundred or so. Zack placed the bag on the ground by the ripper. He stared at the man, thinking he should bury the body.

_"Even though he was a complete soulless fuck, he deserves a proper burial."_

Zack heard a skittering sound coming from his right. Something was coming. He quickly turned his head to see a Rad Scorpion making its way towards him. Its empty black eyes reflected off the rising sun, its claws opened and closed rhythmically while its tail with its poisonous stinger atop swayed back and forth as it moved. Zack fell backwards from the crouched position he was in, and quickly kicked his legs along the ground to create distance between the creature and him. He lowered his arm to grab his revolver. His back made contact from the side of the shack. He was out of room to maneuver. The Rad Scorpion stopped just as Zack freed his weapon from its holster and aimed it outwards. Zack paused watching the beast. Almost as if it knew what he was holding, it reversed itself, clamped on with its claws to the legs of the deceased Spoon Jacker, and pulled his body off into the wastes to wherever its lair might be.

Zack let out a sigh of relief and put away his weapon. He watched the animal pull the body into the distance, there were small dust plumes rising as it went.

_"I really need to be more on the offensive."_

Zack stood up, and walked back to where the items were at on the ground. He brushed the backside of his clothes as he walked. He reached down and picked up the ripper and pouch and made his way back to the cover of the shack. Zack sat down by his pack and opened it up. He placed the ripper and caps in there and he looked grimly at his food supplies. All he had left in there was one can of pork n' beans, and a little bit of Brahmin jerky. They would have to use it sparingly. Zack took out his map and unfolded it in his lap. He looked around the area south of Phoenix to see if Dedge was anywhere there. He found it drawn there with a small red skull near the entrance, most likely warning for the mines. Kade stirred on the bed roll, opened her eyes, and sat up scratching her head.

"Morning, how is your head feeling?"

"My face is a little sore and I have a headache, but other than that I feel okay."

"I have some mentats if you want some relief for your head."

Kade shook her head. "I think I'll be ok. Got anything for breakfast?"

"Sadly, no. I'm a little short on food at the moment. That's why I was making my way to Cherry Cliff, to stock up."

"Alright." She said with a sad tone. She looked to the map in Zack's lap. "What do you have there?" She moved closer and peered at it.

"It's an old caravan map, Dedge is on here. By looking at this you could figure out how to make your way back there. The trek to Cherry Cliff wouldn't be necessary for you."

Kade shook her head quickly. "By the looks of it, it would take me more than two days. I wouldn't be able to make it without food or water. If I go to Cherry Cliff, I might be able to pay my way with an armed caravan. That way it would be safer."

"True. Well, are you ready to head out? When we stop for a rest we can have some lunch." Zack folded up his map and put it away.

"Yeah, let me just grab something first."

Zack closed his pack and reattached his bed roll to it. He took the time to fill his canteen up also. He glanced over as he was doing so and saw Kade looking through a messenger style side bag. She stood up and placed it crossed over her shoulder on her left side. Zack got up and placed his pack on.

"What do you have in there?" Zack gestured towards the bag.

"Well I have some tools, the two remaining sticks of dynamite, a lighter, a small notepad, and my journal."

"A journal?"

"Yes, I like to keep track of the events that happen in my life. You know, in case anyone cares to read it one day to see what life was like around here. I usually write in it two times a week. You think it's silly to keep one?"

"No, it's a good idea. I'm just surprised the slaver didn't throw the bag away when he caught you."

"Well, he didn't have a bag of his own, so he used mine. He looked at the journal a few times, but I could tell he couldn't read. I told him it was just a book I found while scavenging and he just left it in there. Maybe he thought he could sell it when he was going to sell me." A look of disgust appeared on her face.

"It's in the past now. You ready?" Zack raised his goggles to his eyes.

The temperature was not as hot as it had been the last few days as Zack and Kade traveled towards Cherry Cliff. Kade almost had to pace herself at a light jog to keep up with Zack's longer stride. They walked in silence as to save energy since food was low. Zack was able to spot a road which was only about a mile from the base of the mountain to the east. The road looked like it ran straight north. Zack thought hopefully it would lead to Cherry Cliff's entrance. After about five hours and their stomachs moaning at them, they finally stopped for a break. They rested in the shade behind an old billboard that advertised Nuka Cola. Some parts of the ad were peeling from the wood, and it was faded from the sun. It had a young blonde woman on it passing the soda out to soldiers as they were boarding a ship. On the bottom of the ad it read "Nuka Cola supports our troops, and you should too!" Zack made a small fire from the sticks of a nearby tree and warmed the can of beans by it. They each ate half of the can and drank some from the canteen. Then they continued onwards. Kade, now with more energy, decided to break the quiet atmosphere.

"So, last night when you said you didn't have a last name. What was that about?"

Zack gave a short laugh. "Well, about fourteen years ago I lived with my family just outside of New Vegas. I don't know exactly all the details, only word of mouth from one of his friends who helped my mother and I escape. My father was playing in the Wasteland Series of Poker tournament in New Vegas at the casino owned by his employer Daniel Tull. The game was hold'em. The tournament has been going on since 2255, but this was the first that my father was able to play in. Usually Mr. Tull wouldn't allow him to play, because he knew that if he were to win, with the prize money he could take my mother and I someplace better. Just by chance, and a few bribes, he was able to convince some of his co workers to be in charge of security during the tournament. Mr. Tull was furious. While the tournament continued, he threatened my father that if he won in any of top three positions, that he'd have my mother and me killed. He was told to make it look good though, so the others wouldn't know he was throwing the game. This was while he was already at the final table however. There were eight others still in it and all of them respected his skill. So he had to work quickly to get knocked out of the tournament." Zack paused and took a few deep breaths.

From behind Zack, Kade spoke. "Whoa, that's a lot of pressure to put on someone. Since you had to escape with your mother, I take it things didn't turn out too well."

Zack was starting at the ground as he walked and shook it head slightly. "No, they didn't. He tried to win the small pots and lose to the bigger ones. Two people were knocked out before he decided the time was right. He was in a hand with a pair of aces. He raised and everyone folded except the chip leader, who my father probably thought held two kings. The first three community cards came out, it was a king, a three, and an ace, all different suits. My father checked, the other guy bet big, and my father called. The turn card was a seven. It seemed to not help either of them, but my father bet half his chips and was called. The river card came up, it was another three. My father had the winning hand. He bet half of his remaining chips, he didn't have many left. Since it was a small bet it looked like he was trying to steal the pot. The other man reraised which would have put my father all in. My father stared at the other man for quite sometime, pretending like he was thinking hard. He threw in his hand folding. The other man was curious, of why my father would bet so much only to fold. Against poker etiquette he picked up my father's hand and turned it over. My father spoke in protest, but it was too late. Everyone at the table, as well as those in the crowds watching, saw that my father had folded the winning hand. The man he folded to was angry, and began asking questions."

"What the fuck is going on here? Is this game rigged somehow, why would he do this? He had the best hand and he folds. This man is a disgrace to poker!"

"Mr. Tull had no choice but to come over to the table. He announced that my father was kicked and banned from the tournament, and that our family name was shit and couldn't be spoken in New Vegas anymore. He leaned over, whispered something to my father. During all confusion my father was able to leave the casino. He found his friend who owned an old tuck, and made his way quickly to where we lived. I was sleeping when they got there. He threw all of his things in his footlocker, woke me up, and told me to gather anything I wanted to keep. He explained everything quickly to my mother. He gave her a kiss and me a big hug. He told me to take care of my mother and that he loved me very much. I was still half asleep and had no idea what was going on. He then put my mother and I in the back of the truck with our things, had us lay down and covered us with a blanket. I heard some other vehicles approach the front of our home. He told his friend to get us somewhere safe, and to never use our last name again. After driving for a bit I heard several gunshots. I peered outside the blanket and saw flames and smoke where our house had once been. My father's friend got us safe passage to the place where I have lived since then, the town of Polvo."

Zack waited to see what Kade would have to say. She was silent.

"I told you it was a long story." Zack said softly.

"I'm so sorry Zack." She said at last. "I had no idea it was a depressing one. I figured it would be a funny story, such as making a bet with a friend, and the loser loses their last name or something. I feel so bad for making you relive all that."

"Don't worry about it. I haven't told anyone except my friend Alex. We told everyone we didn't have a last name when we relocated."

Zack looked to the sky and noticed that many dark clouds were moving quickly overhead. They were starting to form together. The sky seemed to have a yellowish tint to it and a strong wind came rushing from behind.

"Kade? What's going on with the sky?"

He heard her footsteps cease, but she did not respond. Zack stopped and looked back to her. She was staring up at the sky, her face was in shock, and she seemed to be trembling a little.

"Kade, you alright?" Zack walked over to her, she continued to stare up. Zack placed his hands on her shoulders and shook her a little. "Kade, what's wrong?"

She shook her head a couple of times and finally spoke. "Sorry. We need to get closer to that mountain and find some kind of cover, and fast!"


	14. We're All Mad Here

August 21st, 2279

Zack pulled down his goggles and stood staring at her confused.

Kade grabbed his right arm and turned him. "Come on, we need to hurry, I'll explain on the way." Kade started to jog towards the mountain.

Zack decided to take her word that something was up and sprinted to catch up with her. He ran along her left side. "Okay, can you fill me in now?"

The wind came howling at them from what seemed like every direction. Kade had to yell over the wind so Zack could hear. "When the dust storms go through areas with mountains, all the friction from the wind and dust added with the metal in the mountains causes a lot of static electricity to accumulate in the air. Even though it's rare, if the circumstances are right, it will cause a huge lightning storm. With the lack of precipitation in the clouds, many lightning bolts will strike anything that it can. We will have to find someplace with grounded overhead protection."

_"A little lightning can't be too bad."_

Zack heard a crack to his left. Not too far away a large tree was struck by a purplish bolt from the sky. It sheered the tree in two causing both halves to catch fire. The thunder that followed the strike was deafening. Zack felt the wave and it seemed to cause his bones to vibrate. He immediately became worried, looking all around ahead of him for some kind of protection. All around them he could hear the strikes crash down to the ground. One that hit not to far in front of them gave off an intense amount of heat. Zack could feel the hairs of his body stand up on end. Both Zack and Kade covered their ears from the explosion of thunder that followed. They continued to run and were nearing the base of the mountain. Zack stepped into something that shattered beneath his feet. He looked back as he ran by, and was confused.

_"Is that lightning cooking the ground into glass?"_

They both stopped when they reached the mountain. Kade looked around frantically.

"Dammit, there is nothing here that will work!" She said with anger.

Zack looked up along the side of the mountain and thought he saw some kind of opening. He pointed up to it. "Look, up there, it might be some kind of cave."

They both made their way up the side, it was steep and it took a lot of effort. Zack had to grab on to Kade several times to keep her from slipping down. When they neared the entrance to the opening, Zack raised his hand for her to pause. He pulled his revolver out, crouched down to get through the small opening, and checked inside. Zack had to walk downwards as he went. The space inside opened up after a ways. The sides were smooth and looked like it could hold maybe four people. Zack did not see anything living in the small cave, so he returned his revolver and turned around.

"Come on in Kade, its safe."

Kade came inside quickly, sat down by the rear of the cave, and was taking many short breaths. Zack looked to her with worry, took his pack off, and pulled out his metal plate, wonder glue, and lighter. He did the same as before in the trailer and lit up the small cave. He had Kade move a bit so he could place his bedroll on the ground so they could both sit upon it. She moved back on it and he sat down next to her. He grabbed his canteen and took a few sips. Zack offered it to Kade, but she shook her head silently. She was still trembling every so often.

"We're safe in here, are you okay?" He looked to her face and could see that the bruises were almost completely gone. Even with the scared look on her face, Zack thought she looked adorable with the way her hair fell slightly on her face.

After a moment she cleared her throat and turned to Zack. "Yes, I'm alright now. Sorry for freezing up back there. Lightning just holds bad memories for me. When I was younger, about four years old, a big dust storm came through Dedge. It was a powerful one, and it caused our lightning rod to get knocked over in the chaos. After the dust storm was over, all the people tried to get the rod back up as quickly as possible. But the lightning storm appeared faster. It showered down bolts all through the area. A couple hit some of the vehicles that were stacked up around the perimeter. Nine people were killed, my parents included."

Zack understood now and felt sympathy for her. "I'm sorry that happened to you when you were so young. I was fortunate to have one parent still with me. It must have been hard on you growing up."

She nodded slowly. "I was taken in by an older couple who were not able to conceive any children. They raised me as their own, and I came to love them. They both passed away in the last few years though." Kade reached over to his lap and grabbed the canteen from it. "Sorry, I feel thirsty now."

They both sat in silence for a few minutes, listening to the barrage of from the outside, the thunder shaking dust from the cave's ceiling. Kade was the first to speak.

"So, while we wait this thing out, why are you heading to Cherry Cliff exactly? Are you heading back to your mother?"

"No, I'm not. Sorry, didn't get to mention earlier where I was heading because of the storm forming. I left Polvo about six days ago, my mother passed recently from illness, and I'm on my way to New Vegas to avenge my father and to restore our family name."

"Sorry about your mother, it must have been hard to see her suffer. New Vegas is far from here, do you have any kind of plan once you're there?"

"Well, then Wasteland Series of Poker takes place once a year. It's on October twentieth, two days before my birthday actually. I plan to enter the main tournament and do my best to win it to prove to everyone that my father could have. Afterwards, whether I take first place or not, I'm going to kill Daniel Tull, even if it's the last thing I do." Zack was unknowingly clenching his fists tightly as he spoke.

Kade stared at him with concern, and nodded slowly. "I understand that this is something you must do. I hope everything turns out well for you."

"Thanks, I still have to get there though, and I have already come across quite a few obstacles. I still have almost two months before the tournament though, in case any other delays come up."

"Nevada is a dangerous place as well, with the NCR and Caesar's Legion fighting for control of New Vegas."

Zack turned his head slowly to face her. "Fighting for control? Caesar's Legion? When did all this happen? Aren't the crime families in charge of New Vegas?"

Kade bit her lower lip lowered her right eyebrow. "You haven't heard? Caesar's Legion is this group of slavers that come from the east of Arizona somewhere. For the past thirty years they have been fighting with the NCR, been pushing hard along the northern part of Arizona. Last I heard Hoover Damn was in control by NCR, but I haven't heard anything out of there lately. I just know that both groups are trying to take control of New Vegas, it's one of the few remaining cities left in the country, and could easily become a capital for either side. I think the crime families are only in control of their casinos at this point."

"Damn, I didn't know things got this bad. It might be too late. Daniel Tull might not even be the same powerful man he was before. Almost half my life I have been waiting for the chance to go there and now it's slipping away."

"Look, most of the information I got was second hand from caravans and merchants. I'm not a hundred percent sure of its accuracy. Caesar's Legion is a powerful entity, but they could have been pushed out by the NCR completely, they have the largest standing army."

"True, but by my guess, the NCR wouldn't tolerate the crime families, and would most likely get rid of them. I don't have much choice though, I will still continue on." Zack stared out the entrance to the small cave. He watched the purple and violet bolts dance in the sky.

Kade looked regretful about the past conversation. "Can you tell me about your town of Polvo? Is it a good place to live?"

Zack smiled. "Yes, I actually preferred it to my hometown of Blue Diamond. It always felt more positive and was a lot safer. Technically it's not just my town though. There are two other small communities nearby. We all share a water source that resides in our center. Interstate eight runs through Polvo and to the northeast of us about three miles is a small housing community made up of about fifteen houses, called Askra. It was originally designed for rich older couples in retirement that could afford a quiet place to live near some woods. To the southeast of us about two miles was this old pre-war campground, called Fure. It's made up of old log cabins that people could rent and spend vacation at. Both communities are off of Interstate eight by hidden roads. We all joined together to create a safe place to live. Each place has its own militia that coordinates with the others, Polvo being the largest community has a bigger part in decisions. We call the place Three Point District, or TPD. We call it that because our border looks like a triangle when drawn on a map."

"That's a lot more intricate than Dedge ever could be. What kind of buildings did Polvo have?"

"Polvo was a small little town. I think it was first founded thirty years ago. It only had a few small homes. Most of the residents, including my mother and me, lived in an old motel. It was only single story, but had about twenty five units. There was a drug store that served as the town's trading post. It was run by my friend Alex's parents. There was also a small diner which my mother worked at. It was where the food was rationed out. A two room office building was used as a school for the children. Lastly there was a gas station with a service garage attached to it. It was the strongest built building in town and faced west. We used it as our barracks for the militia. The front store was a lookout and guard bunker that we fortified with sandbags. The service garage was used as our armory and med clinic. I learned a great deal from our Doctor there. It was also where our CO Captain Fadden spent most of his time studying maps, and writing up orders. Our main source of food was from hunting, and our major trade good was the items that Alex's father could repair."

"It sounds like a great place. I would probably get bored though. I always love to explore and scavenge from places long forgotten." Kade responded.

"Oh there is always something going on, new projects to help with, attacks by raiders, and the occasional dust storm. It keeps one on their toes though."

"Yeah I bet." She said laughing. "Did you like working for the militia? Ever think you would be good doing anything else?"

Zack thought a moment before answering. "I never really thought to do anything else. I mean, my father worked in security while my mother watched over me. I didn't really have any other skills growing up besides shooting, gambling, and just trying to survive."

"Yeah, you just kinda fall into what you're used to."

Zack looked out the entrance of the cave again. "How long do these storms usually last? I'm only familiar with dust storms."

"It shouldn't be more than six hours if I had to guess."

"Alright, we should get some rest while we can, perhaps head out during the night when this thing finishes." Zack gave a short laugh. "Crawling down here made me feel like Alice going down the rabbit hole."

"Sorry what?" Kade turned to him.

"Ah nothing. It was this old book my mother used to read to me back in Blue Diamond. Alice in Wonderland was the title. I made her read it to me quite a few times. I loved the story. I would just close my eyes and pretend I was in Wonderland. Sleeping in a green forest, drinking from its clean rivers, talking to flowers, fighting the Queen of Heart's army, and ponder ways that I could confuse that caterpillar."

Kade looked at him as if he was mad. "Yeah, haven't heard of that one. It sounds, um, lovely."

Zack turned to her and smiled. "You'd like it if you read it. Even though the place was crazy, it's better than the world we live in now." Zack picked up his pack and placed it behind him. He lay down resting his head on it. "Now, let's get some sleep."


	15. Arrival

August 22nd, 2279

Zack woke up first. He stretched his legs outward and sat up. It was not a full night's sleep, but was refreshing. He looked over at Kade and could see she tried to use her own small side bag as a head rest. It did not work as well as Zack's since it was a lot smaller. She slept lying on her back breathing through her mouth, which was open slightly. Zack listened to each breath she took. He looked towards the entrance to the small cave. The lightning storm seemed to be gone. He could tell it was sometime in the night, but no clue was to what time. His stomach was stirring, but he knew he could not eat the last of his food yet. Zack turned his attention back to Kade, placed one of his hands on her shoulder and gently shook her.

"Hey, Kade. Time to get up."

Kade groaned and turned on her right side. Zack smiled, got up, and exited the cave to relieve himself. As he was outside doing business he looked around. There were a few clouds floating around the edges of the sky and the moon lit up the land with serene beauty. Zack returned to the cave and saw that Kade was sitting up. She moved some hair from her face and rubbed one of her eyes with the back of her hand. She looked up to him and gave a closed lipped smile.

"We got breakfast today?"

Zack chuckled and shook his head. Before he could respond in any way, Kade spoke first.

"Yeah I figured, I was just teasing. What time is it?

"Don't know the time. I would say early morning, sometime after midnight." He reached to his pouch inside his duster. He pulled out his small package of gum. "I do have this though, if you'd like some." Zack took a piece out and popped it in his mouth.

Kade held her hand out up at him. "Yes please, it's better than nothing."

Zack handed her a piece and grabbed his canteen and drank from it. He then passed it to Kade, which she took quickly.

"Thanks. I feel a bit bad about using half of your supplies. I don't have anyway to repay you at all."

"It's alright. I figure if we double time it today we can reach Cherry Cliff before nightfall. Don't' worry about caps, our friend Spoon Jacker left us enough for us to share a big meal once we get there."

"Really? You're too generous Zack. Some people in the wastes might take advantage of that, need to be careful."

"Oh yeah? You plan on stabbing me in the back and taking my gear?" Zack said with a grin.

"Oh shut up!" Kade pushed Zack backwards playfully as she stood up. "Not like I have anything to stab you with anyhow. Well, except maybe a screwdriver."

"Well then, I'll have to keep my guard up." Zack laughed and crouched down to pack up his belongings and to roll up his bedroll. After he had it attached to his pack, he placed it on his shoulders.

Kade reached into her bag and withdrew a pair of black mechanic's gloves. She held them in one hand, and slung her bag on her shoulder. She placed the gloves on each hand. She then reached down and adjusted the belt she wore over her jumpsuit. She squeezed her hands a few times as she looked down at the gloves. "I forgot that I had these in here. Alright, let's get out of this place." She said happily.

Zack and Kade made their way down the steep side of the mountain. They walked back to where the road was and continued to follow it north. Even with all the time that has passed since any maintenance was done to the road it still seemed to be in decent condition. They came across a few vehicles every so often, but found nothing of use in any of them. Along the side of the road they passed green signs showing distances to places, but the words were faded beyond recognition. When the sun finally rose from behind the mountain Zack wrapped his head up and placed his goggles over his eyes. He felt some sympathy that Kade did not have anything to cover herself with, but she seemed to not mind too much.

"Hey Zack, I was meaning to ask you something. I saw you take out that revolver yesterday during the storm. It looked a lot different from any revolver I've seen during my life exploring and scavenging the Phoenix ruins."

"Yes, it is. When I was ten, my father was injured at the casino. He took a hard hit to his right wrist causing it to break. It never healed one hundred percent. There was this well known gunsmith in New Vegas who was able to modify this revolver for him. They ported it along the end of the barrel. Basically, they are exhaust vents, and allow the gasses expunged to vent upwards at an angle instead of going through the end of the barrel. It decreases recoil almost by half and improves the accuracy of the next shot. It does make the gun a lot louder though if you remember by the metal shack. They also added a counterweight along the bottom of the barrel to make it more balanced over all. It helped my father greatly with his damaged wrist. It took me a good half a box of rounds to get accustomed to it though. It's a bit heavier than I'd like it to be, but I'll eventually get used to it fully."

"Yeah, I could tell it had been modified, it looks really unique."

"Some of the people my father worked with nicknamed it Griever. When my father had to use it, someone would be grieving for the person he had used it on."

After much walking, and protests from Kade, Zack agreed that it was time for a break. They came across another corpse of a vehicle and sat with their backs against the side of it. Zack took out the last of his Brahmin jerky and tried his best to divide up evenly and handed half to Kade. Zack pulled his head wrap aside. He chewed his slowly, trying to savor as much of it as he could. Kade looked down pathetically to hers. It fit in the palm of her hand.

"Well, beggars can't be choosers." She said and then started to eat.

After they finished eating, they each drank from the canteen. When Kade lowered the canteen from her mouth, she squinted, and looked off in the distance.

"Hey Zack, is it just me or is there some movement out there?" She pointed her finger out into the desert.

Zack looked to where she pointed and pulled his goggles to his forehead. He went in his pack and pulled out his binoculars. He peered through them. Zack could make out about twelve shapes of adults as well as a few children. They were all wearing brownish tan robes with hoods covering their heads. The people walked with a pole in one of their hands. They also had three fully packed Brahmin in their midst. Zack lowered the binoculars and passed them over to Kade. She brought them up to her eyes.

At once she spoke. "What the, only one side of these things work." She lowered them.

"Yeah, they got damaged awhile back. What do you make of those people?"

Kade returned the binoculars to her eyes. She sat a moment looking. "I'm not really sure, some kind of caravan?" She lowered the binoculars and looked towards Zack.

"I don't think so. Caravans are usually armed. They look more like some nomadic people, probably just moving to a new place with more food and water."

"Ah. Seems like a tough life though. Moving in a big group like that usually draws unwanted attention."

"Yes, but as you noticed, it was hard to spot them with their desert camouflaged outfits. They also are traveling far away from roads. I'm sure that helps keep them unseen."

A light breeze filled the air. Kade stood up and leaned against the side of the car. She unzipped the top of her jumpsuit down to her belt, exposing the white tank top shirt she wore underneath. "Well, good luck to them."

As Zack packed up he could not help but notice small droplets of sweat accumulating on her upper chest. He also saw that the tank top she wore underneath the jumpsuit was a little short. He could see the smoothness of her stomach showing, as well as her navel. After he had placed his pack back on, they made their way onwards.

The sun was beating on them harshly as they walked. The breeze seemed to have vanished. After a few more hours, Zack took notice of the rock deposits in the mountain to their right. The coloring was starting to change to a bright reddish brown. He looked back to Kade, her head was drooped downwards, and she dragged her feet as she walked. He smiled under his head wrap.

"Chin up Kade, I think we're almost there." He pointed to the coloring of the rock deposits.

Kade brought her head up and looked to where Zack had pointed. She jogged to catch up to Zack. "Great! I was starting to worry we wouldn't make it today."

"Hold up." Zack stopped walking, he held his arm out to his side to stop Kade, and stared down the road.

Ahead of them were two people, a male and female. They were not too far away from them. It was puzzling to Zack as why he did not see them before. The man was pushing a shopping cart which its contents were covered by some kind of blanket. The woman was holding a rifle that Zack had not seen in a long time, since his childhood in Blue Diamond. It was a Winchester-style lever action rifle. The stock and metal of the gun were dark in color. Zack knew that it fired .357 rounds. One hit from that would be deadly.

Zack pulled Kade by the arm off to the side of the road. As the couple approached, the woman held her rifle at the ready. They wore armor less attire. The man had blue jeans and plain short sleeved green shirt. The woman had on tan shorts with a white tank top. Zack held his hands outwards with his palms facing the woman, showing that he meant no harm. The woman glared at Zack and Kade as they walked by. Zack followed her eyes as she moved passed.

"Cherry Cliff not too far up the road?" Zack asked slowly.

The woman took some time to respond, perhaps thinking if she should charge for this information. "Yeah, it's about three miles further." She said without turning her head.

"Thank you." Zack called to her. The woman said nothing and continued walking alongside the man pushing the shopping cart.

As the couple left earshot, Kade turned to Zack. "Such a pleasant couple." She said with a hint of sarcasm.

"No matter. Come on, we'll bet there in no time."

After a bit more traveling, they came to a short sheet metal sign attached to a couple of wooden posts that had been buried into the ground. The words "Cherry Cliff" was painted sloppily in white and an arrow pointing towards the mountain. Behind the sign was a dirt road going in that direction, so Zack and Kade turned onto it from the one they had been following for most of the day.

As they neared the side of the mountain Zack could see that it was impossible to scale the side of it from how steep it was. There was an opening in between the mountain, almost like the mouth of a canyon. The entrance was blocked by a high chain link fence that was reinforced with wooden slats going through the links. Hanging high above the fence along a chain were four bodies. They were stripped of any useful belongings and were in a late stage of decomposition. Zack slowed his pace along the dirt road to take in what was in front of him.

On the right side of the entrance sat a sandbag weapons emplacement fortification. There was a light machine gun set up on a tripod with its barrel extending over the sandbags. There were two men behind the sandbags, one sitting in front of the machine gun, and the other leaning against the side of the mountain, a military assault rifle as slung over his shoulder by a strap. Above this, built against the side of the mountain, there was some makeshift lookout tower. A shoddy looking ladder led up to it, and it appeared only big enough for one person to sit in, which was occupied by a lone man holding a scoped sniper rifle.

On the left side sat a metal desk, which must have been dragged here from somewhere. Behind it sat an elderly woman. The woman's silver hair was styled upwards. She was wearing some kind of pre-war flower dress, wore metal framed glasses, and had a cigarette hanging out of the corner of her mouth. Next to the desk was another woman, but she looked barely a day over eighteen. She was holding a pathetic looking bolt action rifle.

All the others besides the elderly woman were wearing a similar kind of outfit. They had brown combat boots, desert colored pants, grayish armored sleeveless jacket that flowed down past their waist, a white undershirt, and atop their head was a rimmed brown hat. Each had a belt that looked to hold water canteens, a knife, and a couple of grenades. A bandoleer was worn crossed over their shoulder to their waist, to carry extra ammo Zack supposed. Zack could see a small orange and yellow emblem sewn onto the upper arms of their white undershirts, but could not discern what it was.

It was late afternoon, the sun was still visible, but making its way towards the horizon behind them. As Zack and Kade were about twenty five feet from the entrance, the man behind the light machine gun spoke as he placed his hands on his weapon.

"That's far enough!"

Zack and Kade both halted. Kade turned her head slowly towards Zack.

"They're New California Republic forces." She whispered.

"State your business!" The man asked the two of them.


	16. Close Encounters Of The Bird Kind

August 22nd, 2279

"Let me do the talking." Zack said towards Kade. He pulled his head wrap away from his mouth so he could be easier heard. Zack spoke in a raised voice. "We are travelers looking for a place to rest for the night and are in need of supplies." Zack could see a small scar running horizontal across the man's chin.

"Where are you traveling from and where are you headed?"

"I'm from a place south of here called Polvo. I'm on my way to New Vegas. My companion here is from a place south of the Phoenix ruins called Dedge. She is looking to find an armed caravan heading that direction to buy passage with."

The man behind the light machine gun turned his head to the side to look back at the other leaning against the mountain side. "Sir?"

The leaning man nodded his head and spoke. "They're fine."

The man turned back towards Zack, took his hands off his weapon and sat back on a wooden stool and relaxed. "Proceed to the rec-"

"Sergeant DeLeon! Rad Hawk! One o' clock, two miles out! It's heading to our position!" The man shouted down from the watch tower while peering through the scope of his rifle.

The man that was leaning against the mountain pulled his rifle up and quickly moved from behind the sandbag fortification looking to where the other man had said.

Zack and Kade turned as well. Zack squinted and saw the form in the sky. Kade gave a small yelp. Zack was about to draw his revolver, but thought better not to, in case any of these soldiers had itchy trigger fingers and thought of him as a threat.

_"Damn, even from a couple miles out that thing is big."_

He had never seen a Rad Hawk before in his life, but from way Rex had described them, and the one that was in front of him, he was worried.

The Sergeant turned and called up to the watch tower. "Alright, Pasley, keep a shot lined up on it and hold. He turned to Zack and Kade. "You two, get behind the sandbags. Jones, keep them back there." He looked to the man behind the sandbags. Jones nodded.

Kade stood staring, her eyes fixed on the coming beast in the sky. Zack grabbed her arm and pulled her over to the protection of the sandbags. He crouched down and pulled Kade down as well.

Jones looked back to them. "Don't interfere." He said quickly. He turned back, readied his light machine gun and aimed it upwards.

Sergeant DeLeon turned to the women. "Margret, take cover under that desk and don't come out till I give the all clear!" The elderly woman did as she was told, but did so slowly. "Okay, we're gonna try something different this time. Calhoun, grab the cage and bring it over."

The woman standing by the desk nodded, and slung her rifle over her shoulder. She made her way to a pile of what looked like garbage and took a wooden box from the jumble of debris. She held it with both her hands and jogged to where the Sergeant was. The Rad Hawk was almost upon them.

Sergeant DeLeon took the box from Calhoun and set it by his feet, angling it towards the oncoming threat. He pulled a knife from the inside of his boot and cut some rope at the end of the box. "Here's the plan, I'm going to release Bugs and see if this beast wants a piece of him. If not, Pasley you take your shot. If that doesn't send him off, we all fire at will and make our way back into the settlement. Got it?" There were several grunted responses.

DeLeon pulled up the end of the box and a quick blur shot out of it. He then picked up the box and threw it off to the side of the road. Zack could see what came out was a Jackal Rabbit, it wasn't a fully grown yet, which allowed it incredible speed. The air was silent as all eyes followed the Jackal Rabbit off into the wastes leaving a dusty plume in its wake.

The Rad Hawk swooped down at an angle. Even with the distance between them, Zack could see the viciousness in the birds amber eyes, it wanted blood. It was unsure to Zack if it was going for Bugs or at the larger targets of Sergeant DeLeon and Calhoun standing close to each other. Time seemed to slow down as the Rad Hawk made its grand entrance. It leveled out when it neared the ground. Zack closed his eyes, cringed his face, waiting to hear the screams of someone being carried off or the sound of gunfire. He reached to his mother's ring at his chest and gripped it in his hand. He heard Kade shout from his left.

"Oh no!" Kade gripped Zack's left arm with both of hers and held on tightly.

Zack opened his eyes saw that the Rad Hawk had tried to attack the two standing on the road. He heard a gun shot from above, not knowing if it hit. On the ground over to his right he saw Calhoun gripping her left shoulder, scarlet blood was oozing through her fingers. The Rad Hawk went back up into the air and circled around. It flew past above them this time and Jones fired his light machine gun upwards at it, screaming curses. Sergeant DeLeon was crouched down by Calhoun, checking her wound. The Rad Hawk swooped down in the distance from them, when it came back up it had Bugs in its left talon. It flew back the direction it had come from.

"Alright, it's leaving!" Kade shouted with excitement as she jumped to stand up.

Zack exhaled a breath that he had not known he was holding and stood up quickly. The ringing in his ears from the gunfire was still present. "Hey Jones, do you have a med kit of any kind? I can help her."

Jones nodded and reached into a nearby footlocker surrounded by ammunition cans. He pulled out a small white container and tossed it to Zack.

Zack took off his pack and gloves quickly and jumped over the sandbags towards the downed Calhoun. He pulled down his goggles to his neck while he ran. He crouched down opposite of where DeLeon was. Zack took notice of the right side of DeLeon's jaw and neck, there was a scar that ran down which looked like it was caused by a burn. Calhoun was clenching her teeth and breathing rapidly.

"Please move your hand so I can see the injury."

She did, Zack then ripped apart the seam of her jacket some, and could see that it was not too bad. The bird had only torn through her left trapezius muscle. She would be off duty for a bit, sore as hell, but would live. Zack opened the med kit and tended to the wound, first cleaning it as best as he could. Calhoun closed her eyes and passed out. Zack checked her pulse to make sure she was still alive. Zack heard foot steps from behind him. He turned his head and saw Kade standing there. She was holding a brown rimmed hat with both hands in front of her by her waist.

"This fell off when she went down." She spoke slowly and softly. "I went to retrieve it. Is she going to be okay?" Kade looked down at Calhoun's wound and her face lost its color.

Zack smiled faintly, turned back and continued to work. "Yes, she'll be okay Kade. Thanks for getting the hat. Can you give it to the Sergeant here please?"

She passed it over Zack's head to DeLeon. He thanked her and held it upon his knee. Kade walked away slowly towards the desk where Margret had got out from under without Sergeant DeLeon's order. Margret sat back in her chair, lit up a new cigarette, and Kade seemed to be making conversation with her. Sergeant DeLeon looked back down at Calhoun.

"I'm not too good with medicine. Is she really going to be okay, or were you just sparing that other woman?"

Zack finished injecting some med-x and began to sew wound closed. "No, Calhoun here will pull through fine. Don't count on her doing much for some time though."

Sergeant DeLeon nodded and stared down at her with concern. "Calhoun hasn't been with us that long. This is her first real assignment. I've been with the Rangers for about eighteen months, mostly in California near the area around the L.A. Boneyards, but then got sent to this place."

"What are you guys exactly?" Zack asked while he continued his work.

"We're from the Nineteenth Ranger Regiment, Second Battalion, Echo Troop, First Platoon. Our Regiment was sent out to Arizona to find settlements with resources and establish trade routes with NCR headquarters. The places we locate might one day be part of NCR. We took jurisdiction of Cherry Cliff about two weeks ago."

"What about the slavery that is present here? Aren't there auctions or something?"

"Oh yeah that." DeLeon said with a chuckle. He pointed his thumb behind him to the bodies that hung above the fence. "That's what we did with the ring leaders, the rest we ran out of town without anything save the clothes on their backs."

Zack smiled knowing Kade would be happy. "That's good."

A new Ranger appeared from behind the fence. He opened it slightly and sprinted behind the Sergeant. He was also carrying a military assault rifle.

"Excuse me sir, Lieutenant Green heard shots and asked me to investigate. Everything okay here? Is it safe for a shipment to go out, it's just about finished loading up?" The Ranger stood waiting for response.

Sergeant DeLeon stood up and turned to the man. "Yes, it's clear at the moment. Inform the Lieutenant we were attacked by a Rad Hawk, Calhoun was wounded and will need time to recuperate. Open the gate fully on your way back for the shipment to go out."

The Ranger turned to do as ordered.

"Private, wait! Tell Rojas and Andrews they are on guard duty tonight for the front gate."

"Wasn't Rojas out here early this morning sir?"

Sergeant DeLeon glared at the man.

"Yes sir! Right away." He turned and sprinted back up to the gate and swung it open fully.

Zack finished bandaging the wound on Calhoun's shoulder and closed the med kit. He walked back to the sandbags and handed the med kit back to Jones. Jones passed him a bottle of vodka. Zack took it and poured some onto his fingers to rid the blood that was present on them.

"Thanks." Zack passed the bottle back to Jones.

Jones looked down at the bottle and took a swig. "No problem dude, thank you for taking care of Calhoun. None of us are here is trained as field medic, Bailey and Young are off duty right now. Most likely getting wasted down at the saloon."

"Glad I could be of help."

Zack heard noise from the entrance where the fence had blocked before. He turned and saw two Brahmin pulling what looked like the back end of a red pickup truck. It only had two wheels on it, and was driverless. The two Brahmin were being lead by a man wearing simple garments, but had good condition boots. Around the outside of the makeshift wagon was an escort of five other Rangers. Each of them dressed the same as the ones present before and each branding a different firearm. One of them broke off from the group and with the help of DeLeon, moved Calhoun off to the side of the road so the wagon could pass. The Ranger fell back in line and the wagon passed where Zack stood. The contents of the shipment were hidden by a covering of some kind, but sticking out the back Zack thought he saw some kind of titian colored metal rods.

Kade motioned to Zack with a hand and started to walk towards him. He met her halfway by where DeLeon stood over Calhoun.

"Hey Zack, I put our names in with Margret at the record's desk. Told her we'd be staying for less than a day. But we are allowed to go in now. That is, if it's still alright with Mr. DeLeon?" She looked over to DeLeon with a smile.

He laughed a couple of times. "Yeah you two can go in, and that's Sergeant DeLeon." He said with a smirk. He turned towards the others. "Pasley, get down here and help me get Calhoun to the barracks. Jones you stay here till Rojas and Andrews arrive. They shouldn't be more than ten minutes. Margret, time to pack up and take it inside."

Zack went to retrieve his belongings from behind the sandbags. Pasley climbed down the ladder and he helped DeLeon take Calhoun through the opening. Zack met Kade in the middle of the road, the last light from the sky faded away, and they both made their way into the mouth of Cherry Cliff.


	17. Cherry Cliff

August 22nd, 2279

Zack and Kade had to walk for a ways downwards at a slant. The width between the sides of the small canyon was about nine feet in length. Every so often some boulders would protrude, but not enough to hinder movement from something as large as the wagon that had passed earlier. Zack watched as DeLeon and Pasley carry Calhoun a little ways ahead of them. Zack took off his canteen and drank some. He could feel the slight sting from the water as it passed his cracking lips. He handed the canteen to Kade. She drank from it as well and passed it back. She then reached down and zipped up her jumpsuit back to the top. Zack thought she probably did not want to give the wrong impression to the residents that she was offering something.

"Those hanging bodies we passed, the Ranger detachment ended the slave business that was taking place here." Zack said after placing his canteen back over his shoulder.

"Oh, that's what those were. I thought they were just criminals. You know like thieves or murderers."

"I'm sure they were guilty of those crimes as well." Zack said coldly.

"Yeah." She responded back slowly. "I'm glad that they are against slavery. I'd much rather enter a place run by them instead of Caesar's Legion."

Stillness filled the small canyon as they walked on.

"That Rad Hawk was something huh?" Zack said to break the silence.

"Yes, that thing was terrifying. I did feel some sympathy for that Jackal Rabbit though. It didn't deserve to be the decoy. I don't know why they all didn't just seek shelter inside when they spotted that thing."

"If they hid every time someone or something came knocking, they would never go outside, and possibly die in here with no supply lines available."

"I guess that makes sense. It sounds like a tough life though. I would never be able to do anything like that."

"Ah don't sell yourself short. You'd be amazed what you're capable of under certain circumstances."

"Well, I froze up when those slavers attacked my scavenging team and I." Kade said softly.

Zack smacked himself mentally. "The first time one is in combat is usually the worst. Your nerves are twitchy, your feelings are all over the board, and you think back afterwards of mistakes that could have been done differently. If you make it through your first time, you're doing ok. Sadly though, killing is one of those things that gets easier the more you do it."

They finally came to where everything opened up. They paused to look at the surrounding area. It was already very dark in Cherry Cliff, but there were many metal barrels set up all through the area, burning who knows what. They lit the place up decently, their yellow flames flickering off the sides of the walls. The stars were just starting to appear above them. Cherry Cliff formed out to a V, spreading out wide on each side. Along the sides of where they stopped they saw a lot of trash and junk that had not been moved outside yet. The path continued onwards ahead of them. Up ahead along each side of the walls had wooden stairways leading up the second level. It was about twelve feet higher from the ground they stood on. They could not see what was up there, but saw the same burning barrels as well as some buildings. That same reddish rock was conveyed everywhere here, which gave true to Cherry Cliff's name.

They both walked on the dirt path in front of them. It was the same width of the short canyon they walked through. They came across what looked like a small bazaar. There were blankets laid out, as well as standing booths. All sorts of things were being sold from weapons, armor and clothes, medical supplies, books, food, and an assortment of random junk. There were many people around this area looking at the goods available. Zack saw Calhoun's form and the others disappear in midst of the crowd. Voices filled the air of those trying to negotiate prices, or arguments about an unfair deal. As they passed by one seller tried to get Zack to come over and buy some strange object in his arms, but he waved the man off. As far as Zack could tell, most of the weapons here were badly degraded and had little hope of surviving long. The armor looked cheaply made. If anyone actually decided to buy any, it would just be a false sense of security for them. Kade seemed not to find anything of interest either and they made their way on.

Kade tried to get the attention of a woman passing by. "Excuse me. Do you know where we can get-"

The woman pushed Kade to the side. "Outta my way bitch!"

Zack looked over to Kade's face, it was almost the same color as the scenery, and it looked like she was about to pull out a wrench and beat that woman senseless. "What the fuck was her deal?"

_"She even looks cute when she's angry."_

Zack fought to stifle his laugh. "Just the same type you find in most of the wastes I suppose."

As they walked a bit further they saw a large building to their right. It had the words "Goods Store" painted on a sign on the roof. The building was the type one would see in the old west era. It was made of a dark brown wood with several glass windows. There was a small wooden planked sidewalk in front of it. All the buildings in Cherry Cliff seemed to be made in the same fashion. The Goods Store windows had some light showing through them so it must still be in business.

"I bet that's where they sell the higher quality items." Zack gestured with his head. "They get you on your way in with that horrible cheap stuff."

"Yeah. Hey Zack, look at this." Kade jogged a little ahead of him.

Zack made his over to where she stopped. The path forked here splitting off to the right and left. Before them was a long pole which must have been forty feet in length. It was tethered to the ground with thick wire in several places. Above their heads was a wooden bridge bound with rope extending from one side of the second level to the other.

"This must be their lightning rod. Check that out." Kade pointed to a small fenced off area next to another building that did not have distinct markings to what it was.

Zack could see a cable running from the lightning rod to some kind of blocky item inside the fenced off area.

"They must be able to store the electricity there. That means they have power!" She said happily.

"Not enough to light up the area outside though. But hopefully most of the buildings here can utilize it."

Zack looked to the building ahead. It looked like a large house, and he could see a Ranger patrolling back and forth on the porch in front, with military assault rifle in hand.

_"Must be guarding something, or someone?"_

Zack looked back to Kade, but she began walking along the path to the left. He followed her and saw an opening against the back part of tall cliff. The opening was being supported by large wooden beams. Emerging from it were rails which came out a ways and turned to the right and entered another building. This building was two stories, and had what looked like two smokestacks made of metal coming out of its roof. Zack did not see anything flowing through them at this time though. He then heard the sound of something that sounded like a flamer coming from the opening.

_"Rex had said the mine was up and running now."_

A Mister Handy model robot came out hovering from the mine. Behind it was pulling a large cart along the rails with two of its arms grasped on it. The cart was overflowing with ore. The robot pulled the cart along the rails in into the building next to the mine. After a moment people started to emerge from the mine as well. They were wearing coveralls and hard hats with lights attached on top. They carried picks, shovels, and one man carried a box of what looked like dynamite. All the people were covered with the red dust from the mountain. They placed their tools by the building next to the mine, which Zack now believed was a refinery which had made those rods that left earlier that day.

As the people passed by, Zack could see their faces clearer, which were badly disfigured, they were ghouls. He had no prejudice against ghouls but he figured right away that they were being used to mine at a lower wage than would be paid to a person. Kade seemed a little squeamish as they passed by and hid behind him. They trudged down the path and out of sight.

"I don't know what it is, but they just freak me out." Kade said and came alongside Zack.

"They are only different physically. Most of them don't mean any harm."

"I know that, I just- I can't put it into words, sorry."

"It's alright. I'm starving though. There's got to be a place up on the second level where we can eat. Come on."

They turned around walked down the path. Zack saw a building he did not see before now to his right. It was about the same size as that house he saw by the lightning rod. A NCR flag was hanging in one of the windows of this building. He supposed it was their barracks.

_"I hope Calhoun is resting peacefully."_

As they made their way to the stairs they passed near the bazaar. Zack saw a brown skinned couple walking ahead of them, the woman holding a blanket swaddled baby in her arms. Zack thought he would try his luck and approached them.

"Hello there, is there a place to eat up on the second level?"

They couple both looked confused and the man said something quickly that Zack didn't comprehend.

"I'm sorry, what?" Zack asked.

Kade laughed and pushed Zack lightly aside. She began speaking the same language that the couple had used. All Zack could do was stand there while they conversed. He had no idea that Kade spoke more than one language. The conversation went on for what seemed like five minutes before the couple walked away to the left. Kade turned to face Zack. He had a quizzical look on his face.

"What?" Kade asked.

"What just happened here? What were you speaking? Chinese?"

"No silly, that was Spanish. I figured you'd pick up on that. Take your town for instance."

"What do you mean?"

Kade covered her mouth and laughed a few times. "Sorry. Polvo, it means dust in Spanish. I'm guessing whoever founded it must have thought it a witty name."

"Oh, I didn't know that. And when do you speak multiple languages anyways?"

"Well, just my mother was Hispanic. My father understood some, but my mother mainly spoke Spanish. The rest of Dedge spoke English though, so I learned both."

"Interesting, I bet that comes in handy. So what did they have to say?"

"Come on, I'll tell you while we walk."

Zack followed Kade towards the stairs that lead up to second level from the left side from the entrance.

"Well I asked her about this place, where to eat, where to stay, and the history. She said there is a place up here where we can go to get food. She also said that Cherry Cliff has a spring nearby where they can channel in plenty of water."

As they reached the top of the stairs Kade pointed to the left. A pleasant breeze flowed by as she spoke. "There are outhouses there. With no real plumbing of any kind here the sewage just runs into some cavern somewhere." She walked to her right and Zack followed. "Here we go. J's Saloon and Grill."

Before them stood a large building with many glass windows with "J's" painted black above the entrance where music was flowing outward from. The doors were the classic double hinged batwing doors, which probably meant the place never closed, no way to lock up. Zack thought that this would probably the busiest place in the settlement. He could smell booze and food cooking. It made his mouth water, and his stomach growl. Zack walked up some stairs and went through the swinging doors first. The floorboards creaked underneath his feet and the door's hinges squeaked.

The place was packed, with people and ghouls alike. There were even a few off duty NCR Rangers. No one seemed to pay them any particular attention when they entered. The lighting was dim, but was run by electricity, small single bulb lamps hung from the ceiling. Against the back wall was a wooden bar, with many stools in front of it. Behind it against the wall were many filled bottles of different colors, cups and glasses of all shapes and sizes, and large rectangular mirror. The mirror was cracking slightly in its lower right corner. Above this near the ceiling were the skulls of different animals. Zack could see Brahmin, Jackal Rabbit, Mole Rat, and even what looked like a Deathclaw. Zack shuddered a little when he identified the last one.

On the left side of the saloon sat many old wooden circular tables, accompanied by wooden chairs, and a colorful looking jukebox, which was playing a fast beat song at the moment. There were double doors by the bar which must lead to a kitchen of some kind. On the right side of the place sat a pool table, a square table with several slot machines atop, and three hexagonal tables with green felt on them, for playing cards Zack thought joyfully.  
The atmosphere was loud with conversations, pool balls clacking together, slot machines paying out, and the sounds of cards being shuffled. The place had a wide variety of people, but Zack felt that it was safe enough. He gestured to Kade a free table along the wall. They both placed their bags by their chairs and sat facing each other. Zack tried to get the attention of a middle aged waitress that was nearby.

"What a busy place." Zack said towards Kade.

"Yeah, I hope they can make the food quick, I'm afraid I might pass out soon."

"Heya kiddos, what can I get for you?" The waitress asked standing by the edge of their table. She wore a red apron over some pre-war clothes.

"Um, menus would be nice, please." Zack responded. The waitress left and returned a moment later with the menus.

"I'll be back in a few minutes." She walked away to tend to the other patrons.

Zack and Kade looked over the menus. They were in old plastic holders and were composed mainly of pictures of items, with small amounts of writing underneath.

"Wow, they have a wide selection to choose from, must help that the Rangers are here." Kade said over the top of her menu.

"Yeah, remember you can get whatever you'd like, Spoon Jacker is buying."

The reminder of the name seemed to cause Kade to frown. Zack saw this.

"I'm sorry Kade, I sometimes speak without thinking."

"No, it's alright. I'm going to enjoy this meal more knowing he's gone. It's funny too if you think about it, if he showed up with me here, he would have probably been shot on sight. I would probably be stranded here though, since I don't have any caps to my name."

Zack didn't know how to respond, but luckily the waitress came back over so he didn't have to.

"Alright, you ready to order now?"

"Yeah, go ahead first Kade."

"I'll take two of the Gila Monster bits grilled burritos, with a side of corn salad, and to drink, bring a bottle of red wine."

"Okay, and you?"

"I'll take a large Brahmin steak well done, with some squirrel stew, and a side of corn salad. Do you have any Nuka Cola?

"Yeah."

"Okay, I'll take two bottles, thanks." He took Kade's menu from her and gave both back to the waitress. She walked away to place the order.

"It's good to finally rest after traveling a bit. I might stay an extra day if it's okay with the Rangers. Come tomorrow are you going to see about any caravans coming through?"

"Yeah, that Hispanic couple said to check the Good's Store out. The owner usually knows when they're coming."

"Alright, sounds good."

A man with a clean shaven face wearing a black pin stripe suit accompanied with hat walked over to the table they both sat at. He looked towards Kade, completely ignoring Zack's presence. "Hello beautiful, why don't you come over to my table so I can buy you a drink and we can get to know each other better?"

Without looking up Kade answered. "Piss off!"

The man was taken aback. "Now, now. Is that anyway to talk to a gentleman?" He spoke with suaveness.

Kade turned her head slowly and looked up to the man. "Oh I'm sorry. I didn't realize who I was talking to." She said with sarcasm. "Fuck off, sir!"

The man frowned, mumbled something, turned, and walked away.

Zack sat staring ahead smiling. He was trying to keep from laughing at the conversation that just occurred in front of him.

"What?" She asked him.

"Hmm? Nothing."

"Guys can be so full of themselves. They think since just because they are male and have a pair hanging between their legs they can just go up to any woman, spit out a line, and expect the woman to just to bend over right there for them!"

"Well, not all of us at least." Zack responded.

"Yeah, present company excluded I guess."

Both of them broke out in laughter.

The waitress came back with a circular tray in hand and sat down two bottles of Nuka Cola, one bottle of wine, and a single glass. Zack opened up one of the bottles of Nuka Cola and drank half of it at once. It was thick and sweet, but sat well in his empty stomach. Since they had electricity here as well, the soda was surprisingly cool. Kade opened up the bottle of wine and pushed the glass off to the side. She drank straight from the bottle.

They passed the rest of the time waiting for their food in silence, both low on energy from lack of nutrition last couple of days.


	18. Farewell

August 22nd, 2279

The food arrived about fifteen minutes after they had ordered. Zack had already finished one bottle of Nuka Cola and Kade about a third of her wine. Everything on Zack's plate was warm and tasted excellent. They both ate ravenously from their plates. This side of the saloon that they both were on seemed more pleasant of the two. There was laughter, delighted conversation, and relaxing music. The other side held the rants of drunks, the curses of missed shots at the pool table, and the anger of a losing hand at the poker tables.

Kade was the first to finish her food, she pushed her plate forwards and drank more from her bottle of wine. As Zack continued on with his meal, he watched as Kade glanced around the saloon, taking in all the excitement. She had a smile on her face, most likely glad that she wasn't forced here by a slaver and placed on some wooden stage to be sold off to the highest bidder. As Zack finished the last of his Brahmin steak, the saloon started to clear out considerably.

"Alright guys, that will be a hundred and five caps for everything combined. Please don't tell me now you want separate checks, cause I don't really feel like breaking it all down." The waitress told them seeing now that they had finished.

"One total is fine, thanks." Zack opened his pack up and took out the small pouch that he had taken from Spoon Jacker. He started counting out the caps as the waitress gathered up the dishes. Zack scooted the pile of caps in front of him to the side of the table.

The waitress brushed them into a pocket in front of her apron and picked up the dishes. "I'm going to go count this in the back, so it all better be here." She then walked off towards the kitchen.

Zack smiled at the waitress's words and scratched the top of his head. "The price seemed a little high for what we ordered."

"Yeah about that, when I spoke to that couple before, they said that the commander of the Rangers places his own tax on everything in Cherry Cliff. So as he sends shipments of copper back to California, he is making a killing off the residents, merchants, and wastelanders. They told me he lives in that house by the power storage unit that was fenced off."

"It might not be as bad as it sounds. The money from the taxes could be going back into Cherry Cliff. He probably had to purchase both the NCR barracks and the other building he lives in, which probably also acts as headquarters for the settlement. Since he is the one in charge of the copper shipment, he has to pay the ghouls to mine it. He has to keep his Rangers fed, stocked with medical supplies, and have plenty of ammunition on hand. He has his Platoon guarding this settlement, putting his Ranger's lives in danger everyday to keep them safe. The Rangers probably get paid a monthly wage as well."

"Wow." Kade dragged the word out as she said it. "I didn't think of all that stuff."

"Yeah, you see how costly it can be when you're on the other side."

"They didn't mention anything like that. They seemed terrified of this, uh, Lieutenant Green. They described him as a large muscled dark skinned man. A long scar runs from the top of his head over his right eye and nose. He wears an eye patch over the socket. They say he always has a cigar in his mouth, along with a gold front tooth. The boots he wears are huge and have metal plating on the front with a grinning skull on the tips. He likes to drink whiskey all hours of the day. Sometimes he gets drunk and rides a donkey around Cherry Cliff pulling his revolver out and shooting it wildly at anything or anyone. Usually only the other Rangers can get him under control."

"Really?" Zack shook his head chuckling. "He must've pissed off the wrong officer or something and got sent out here to baby sit this copper mine."

"Yeah, he doesn't sound very friendly, I'd rather just avoid the man altogether."

"So did that couple say where we could stay the night?"

"Yes they did. Once you leave here and walk near the edge of the cliff you will see the bridge that goes to the other side. Once you make it across you walk to the left. You will see the hotel there. If you go right by accident you will come across the resident's homes."

"Alright, that sounds like it will work."

Zack reached over to his pack and opened the part with the hidden compartment in it. He took the pouch from earlier, which still had some caps in it, and filled it with it with more caps that he kept hidden here. He tied the pouch and placed it on the table. He grabbed the bottle in front of him and finished the last of his Nuka Cola.

"_Now for the hard part."_

"Well." Zack stared down at a disfigured knot within the wood of the table. "I guess this is where we go our separate ways." He looked up to her face. "I'm going to go check out that hotel. Are you going to try the Good's Store to see about a caravan?"

Kade nodded slowly. She was looking down at the wine bottle in her hands, moving her thumb up and down across its label.

"Here." Zack moved the pouch across the table in front of her. "This should be enough to get a room at the hotel, buy a couple more meals, and pay your way with a caravan."

Kade looked up from the bottle to Zack. Her green eyes were shaking slightly. "Thank you Zack. You've been so helpful to me these last couple of days. Your kindness is a real rarity."

Zack stood up from the table. "I'm glad we arrived here together without injury and I hope you get back safely to Dedge. Take care of yourself Kade." He held his right hand out as to shake hers.

Kade looked to Zack's hand and then to his eyes. She quickly got out of her chair, jumped up wrapping her hands around his neck, and hugged him tightly.

Surprised, Zack had no choice but to return the hug. He could feel the cool metal of her bracelet on his neck as her head rested on his chest.

"Thanks for everything." She said softly.

The hug broke after a few moments and Kade sat back down grabbing her bottle of wine. "I'm just gonna finish this first before I leave. Don't want it to go to waste."

Zack nodded. He grabbed his pack and placed it on his shoulders. "Farewell Kade." A lump in his throat was present as he spoke. He quickly turned, walked to the entrance, pushed the swinging doors open, and made his way down the steps.

Zack located the wooden bridge not too far away. There was a burning barrel sitting next to it. He crossed it slowly holding on to the rope that served as the guard rail with his right hand. The bridge was wobbly, but seemed like it was built to last. When he finished crossing, he looked to the left. He saw the building that must be the hotel. It was two stories and had a lot of windows. He made his way slowly towards it, staring at the ground as he walked. He saw a rusted tin can lying on the ground and kicked it a few times till he neared the building. Zack stepped up on the wooden planked sidewalk, and opened the door which its top portion was mainly a glass window.

The lobby was kept clean. Immediately to his right was a small sofa. The fabric was a faded green. It had gaudy gold arm rests and legs. Further right was a hallway which looked to lead to rooms. In front of him a ways was a staircase to the second floor. The lighting in here was run by power as well. A man wearing tan slacks, blue vest, and red tie was standing behind a small counter to the left. His hair was brown and was hanging down past his shoulders. He looked like he was busy reading something that Zack couldn't see. Zack made his way over to the counter and placed his hands on upon it.

"How's it going?" He asked the man.

The man jumped a little from Zack's question. "Oh. I'm sorry man. I got lost in this book. What can I do for you?"

Interested Zack looked over the counter. "What is it you are you reading?"

The man picked up the book and showed Zack the cover. "It's one of those Sherlock Holmes crime novels. This one is called The Hound of the Baskervilles. I'm about halfway through and it's starting to get really interesting. I thought I had an idea of what was going on, but not so sure anymore."

Zack nodded. "I might have to read it sometime if I find a copy. How much is a room for the night?"

"Well we have single beds, doubles, and then a deluxe suite, which has a large bed and its own bathroom. Otherwise you have to use the community bathroom at the end of the hall."

"A single will do. Do they have powered lights in them?"

"Sorry, no. Only the deluxe suite has power to them."

"No worries. Is there a bathtub in this community restroom?"

"Yes, it will cost extra for that. I can have someone bring water and soap if you would like to have one this evening."

"Yeah I'd like that."

"Alright, single room and water for bath. That will be five hundred caps, and I'll need that up front before I can give you the key, just policy."

Zack took off his pack and withdrew the amount from his hidden compartment. He put the caps on the counter and waited while the man counted them. Zack sat down on the sofa and waited patiently.

A few minutes passed. The man looked over to Zack. "Okay. Here is your key. You'll be on the second floor, room seventeen. That will be on the left. Once the bath is ready someone will knock on your door to inform you."

Zack nodded, stood up, and walked over to the counter and received the key from the man.

"Anything else I can do for you?"

"Yeah, do you have the time?"

The man looked at a spot behind the counter. "It's a little after eight."

"Thanks." Zack picked up his pack and walked up the stairs holding it at his side.

Zack located his room. It was the second door on the left. He inserted the key and unlocked the deadbolt. It seemed like it would be difficult to pick and would be safe to leave his belongings in the room. He opened the door and entered the room. The room was quite small. Along the right side of the it against the wall was the bed. The frame was wood and it had gray sheets and a pillow on it. Next to the bed's headboard sat a small nightstand with a kerosene lamp and a pack of matches next to it. Above it was a window which only faced part of the mountain, hardly worth installing in the first place.

Zack placed his pack and canteen down in the space between the foot of the bed and the entry wall. He made his way over to lamp and lit it with the first match. He walked back and closed the door, locking it as he did so. He placed his goggles and head wrap on the nightstand. He undid the strap to his pauldron and took off his duster placing it on the bed. He sat down next to it and removed his boots and socks, and slid them underneath the bed. He sat there staring blankly at the wall, with its paint peeling at the edges. He sighed and closed his eyes. The silence was eating at him.

"_I didn't think that saying goodbye to her would be so difficult."_

Zack had become quite used to having Kade to speak to the past couple of days. She came from an interesting place and seemed very talented with technology and explosives. It was amusing to hear her thoughts on the topics they discussed.

Zack was not sure how much time passed while he sat there thinking with his eyes closed when a small knock was heard coming from his door. He opened his eyes.

"Excuse me sir." A muffled female's voice came though the door. "Your bath is ready at the end of the hall."

Zack got up, unlocked, and opened the door. A young woman stood before him. Her face was smudged and she wore torn garments. She stood with no emotion not making any contact with Zack's eyes. Zack reached back to his pouch and withdrew some caps.

"Thanks for getting it ready." Zack placed the caps in the girl's hand.

A smiled appeared on her face. "Thank you very much sir, enjoy the bath." She quickly turned and vanished down the hall.

Zack went to his pack and withdrew his razor and toothbrush. He left the room and locked it. He then made his way barefoot down the hallway towards his bath.


	19. Girls Just Want To Have Fun

August 22nd, 2279

Zack opened the slightly crooked bathroom door. The bathroom was about twice the size as his room. The floor was composed of cracking white tiles. To his right sat a lime green ceramic sink and toilet. Across the room against the wall sat a same style bathtub. It was filled with water and along its surface were small patches of bubbles. The water did seem to have a light reddish tint though, most likely due to the mountains. Next to the tub sat a small square brown table with different plastic bottles of liquids on it. He figured they were soaps of some kind. Against the wall was a rack which had two towels on it.

Zack closed the door and latched it. If anyone needed to use the facilities, they would have to go down to the first floor. He stripped and placed his clothes atop the toilet's lid. He placed his holster belt on the table with his revolver in reach of the bathtub. Zack looked into the mirror above the sink at himself. He wasn't a bad looking man, just a little rough around the edges. His nose was a bit larger than he would have liked and a few of his teeth were crooked. He moved his hands across his cheeks, feeling the stubble that had grown there. He then looked to his fingers. He still had all his digits, he was grateful for that. He then looked over his body. Like most people the wastes, he was riddled with scars and several burns. He ran his fingers over the ones on his upper body. Each one told a different story from what had occurred.

The scar a few inches below his left armpit had been a painful one. A band of raiders had managed to sneak into Polvo and taken refuge in one of the resident's homes, killing all inside first. A passerby had heard screams and called for help. The raiders began to fire on the town from the cover of the home. Zack managed to creep his way to the backside of the building. He had done so in haste and was only able to grab his combat knife and assault rifle with the one magazine in it.

Zack went in through a broken window undetected. As the rest of the militia fired onto the house from the front, Zack navigated inside quietly. He came to the kitchen where a man was shooting a shotgun out the broken window. He dispatched the man quickly by a three round burst from his gun. Zack was going to head to the living room next. As he was about to leave the kitchen's doorway, rounds splattered into the wall to his right and splintered parts of the wooden frame causing them to fly towards his face. Zack quickly fell backwards into the kitchen. Another raider must have heard his gunfire. He crouched low and aimed his rifle around the corner of the doorframe and fired two bursts down the hall. There was return fire, but it seemed like it was shot blindly. As the firing stopped, he heard a curse and the sound of metal grazing against metal.

Zack figured they were reloading and ran down the hallway towards the living room. Just as he entered, a female raider was just about to get a magazine into her 10mm submachine gun. He gunned her down before she could finish. Zack then made his way to the stairs to the upper level. He figured he had a couple bursts left on his rifle. He thought about taking the raider's weapon, but didn't want to chance that it might not work properly. He kept his back to the wall and moved slowly down. He glanced into a room. It was a bedroom and inside was two bodies, the residents. One was face down on the floor with a knife jutting from his back, the other in the bed, covered with a bloodstained blanket. He made his way further down to another doorway. He crouched low and peered inside. He saw two male raiders taking shots out of different windows. One was using a hunting rifle and the other a Chinese assault rifle.

Zack pulled his rifle out in front of him and moved into the doorway. He aimed at the closest raider first and fired. The raider went down screaming. The other one looked over to his fallen comrade as Zack moved his gun to him and fired. His gun clicked, it was empty. He starting sprinting towards the raider as the man realized there was someone in the room and began turning his body towards Zack. Zack grabbed the end of the barrel of his rifle and swung the butt of it at the raider's face. Automatic gunfire filled the air. Zack was able to hit the man's head, knocking him out. Zack didn't come out unscathed though. He took a 5.56mm round to his left side. It broke two of his ribs and caused him to blackout from the pain. Luckily it didn't pierce his lung or he might have lost it. He woke up later on a gurney with Dr. Sylvia standing over him.

Zack felt the long scar that began at the top of his chest running down at an angle in-between his pectorals and ending at the bottom of his sternum. It was caused by a merchant that had done business in Polvo but decided that he wanted to take back a deal. Zack had told him the trading was over and to leave immediately. The man had some kind of spring assembly in his jacket sleeve, a small blade came rushing into the merchant's hand and he thrust it downwards at Zack. Zack was able to push the man's hand away some while it came at him. The attack had been aimed at his heart, but instead only gashed him. The merchant was tackled by other members of his squad and spent five months in chains.. Zack looked down to the small circular one where his right pelvic bone was. He had taken a hit by a laser pistol. He wasn't too angry about this one though. It was caused by friendly fire of a new recruit for the militia. She was on guard duty, Zack had come up on her without making it known and she shot first before asking questions. She was very apologetic afterwards, but Zack waved her off, it was just as much as his fault. She helped him to Dr. Sylvia.

There were many more scars from glass, metal instruments, and fire along the surfaces of his body. One other noteworthy one was on his right shin. It went around the sides of his calf. A Rad Scorpion had managed to latch on to his leg and was about to strike at him with its poisonous stinger. The pain was intense. He was happy though that the thing didn't break his leg in half. Zack had thought that his time on this world was over. Off to the side however, his friend Alex had come down the creature's head with a super sledge, killing it in the process. The monster's claw released from Zack's leg when it died. It was back to the med clinic for him. Dr. Sylvia had told him she was getting a little tired of patching Zack up and he needed to be more careful. Yeah, Zack had thought, try to avoid violence in the wastes.

Zack made his way to the bathtub and got in. The water was just the right warmness to feel comfortable. He had brought his razor and toothbrush inn the tub with him. He shaved his face and trimmed the top of his head some. He then used some of the water upon his toothbrush to clean his teeth. He spent a good hour just sitting in there relaxing and cleaning his dirtied body.

After he was finished, he got out of the tub and dried himself with a towel. It felt great to be clean even though the bath was quite expensive. He sat down by the tub and used the other towel to try and clean the outside of his clothes as best as he could by dipping the towel in the water. He redressed and made his way back to his room.

Zack sat down on the bed and pulled his shoes out from under it. He put his socks and shoes back on his feet. He went into his duster and took out his silver coin. Zack stood up and made his way to his pack to get some caps. He wanted to go back to the saloon and play some poker. All he was wearing was his black boots, charcoal gray pants, and tucked in navy blue shirt. He left his hotel room and locked it behind him. He made his way downstairs and out of the hotel. The man at the counter took no notice of him as he left, still engrossed in the Sherlock Holmes book in his hands.

As Zack exited the hotel, he took notice of the temperature in Cherry Cliff. It had cooled down quite considerably. This sometimes happens in the Arizona wastes. The days can be blistering hot and at night you might need the warmth of a campfire. It was almost like the surface of some alien world. As Zack made his way over to the bridge which led back to the saloon he saw the residential houses that Kade had mentioned earlier. He saw quite a few ghouls hanging around the entrances to them. They most likely get room and board deducted from their wages from working in the mine.

Zack swung open the doors to the saloon with his head turned towards the poker tables. There was only one table with action that had five people currently playing at it. They were playing five card draw. Not Zack's best or favorite game, but it has been some time since he had played, and he was in need of some practice. Zack also saw two people by the pool table and one person feeding caps into a slot machine. He heard music playing in the background. Zack made his way over to the bar. The bartender was a balding man of maybe in his early forties. He wore short sleeved, blue striped, white button up shirt, with black pants, and a forest green apron. At the moment he was tending to someone else sitting at end of the bar. Zack did not sit down at the bar, just leaned against it until the man was able to assist him. Unintentionally, Zack looked up to the Deathclaw skull hanging near the ceiling. He quickly looked down to the bottles behind the bar and kept his eyes fixed on what looked like a bottle of whiskey.

"Evening, what can I get you?" The man had finally came over to Zack.

"I'll take two beers."

"Twenty caps."

Zack took out and placed the caps on the counter. The bartender reached under the counter and came out with a bottle in each hand. He set them upon the bar. He then took a bottle opener from his apron pocket, opened them, and scooted them towards Zack.

"Thanks." Zack told the bartender.

The bartender took the caps and walked off to a register. Zack picked up the bottles and took a swig of the one in his right hand. He wasn't much of a drinker but it helped him relax while he played cards. He turned and started walking towards the poker table in use. He hoped that they would allow him to join. Sometimes players liked how the game was currently playing and did not want to mess up the flow. As he made his way, a familiar song came on the jukebox. It was one his father had liked.

As he was about halfway to the table he heard cheering, hooting, and whistling coming from the other side of the saloon. He turned his head towards the sounds and felt his jaw drop. In the corner of the saloon which he did not see when he entered, by the jukebox, up on a wooden table, was Kade. She was dancing seductively, moving her body with perfect rhythm to the beat. She held a bottle in one of her hands. Around her the tables were full of men with their eyes fixed upon her, with drinks in their hands, and grins across their faces.

"_Wow, I didn't take her for that kind of girl."_

Zack turned away from the poker table and went back to the bar placing his bottles upon it. He sat on the stool with his body towards Kade. He picked up one of the beers and drank its contents fully. He placed the now empty bottle on the counter hard.

As the chorus came up, Kade pulled the zipper to her jumpsuit down to the top of the belt she wore. All that was covering her upper body was the small white tank top she wore underneath the jumpsuit. This got the crowd watching to voice their approval. She took a drink from the bottle in her hand, some of its contents spilled down her chin.

Zack picked up and started in on the second beer in disappointment from what Kade was doing. The bartender came over and stood by Zack.

"Enjoying the show I take it? Can I get you another beer?" The man asked happily.

Zack shook his head but kept his eyes on Kade's face. Her green eyes seemed distant somehow. "All this from some wine, huh?"

Kade took her arms out from the sleeves of the jumpsuit passing the bottle between hands as she did so. She pulled the top portion of her jumpsuit down behind her to her waist. The belt she wore over the jumpsuit prevented it from going any lower though. She then did a full circle turn, moving her hips while she went, with her arms reaching outwards above her head. When she finished the turn e she brought her arms back down in front of her stomach. The right strap of her tank top sagged from her shoulder to her upper arm.

"Wine? Heck no. I saw that bottle of wine she had earlier. She came up here, had a few beers, and then switched to straight vodka. She was going on about some shit named Jacker or something. She said she wanted to forget the time they spent together. I'd just figured it was some boyfriend or something. A little while later, some guy suggested that she dance for everyone. She's been up there for about the last four songs. That young lady is wasted out of her mind."

Zack quickly looked to the bartender's face and saw truthfulness there. All this time he had been watching, he figured Kade had just loosened up from the wine and wanted to get up there on the table.

"She's obviously not in control of herself. Why would you allow this to continue?" Zack asked angrily.

"Well fuck, I'm not about to say no to some free entertainment. It helps greatly with the sales."

At this time Kade was trying to pull her jumpsuit further downwards with her free hand, the belt hindered this though. She tried to loosen it, but was having difficulty.

Zack wasn't sure if she wore anything underneath on her lower body. He didn't want the room full of aroused men to find out either. Zack swore loudly, quickly got off his stool, it toppled over in the process. As he made his way over to the corner of the saloon a man in leather armor got up from one of the tables and stood in front of Kade.

"Hey sweetie, let me help you with that." The man reached down to her belt and was attempting to take it off.

Zack rushed over, navigating through tables, chairs, and people to finally arrive by Kade. He pushed the man a little off to the side.

"Back off!" Zack commanded.

"Fuck you!" He spat back.

The man in leather armor then threw a punch and it hit the left side of Zack's face. It wasn't too hard of a hit, only causing a little soreness in his jaw. Surely the man was inebriated some. Zack used both his arms to push the man to the floor. He fell down hard cursing and knocking over a couple chairs in the process. There were shouts of protest coming from the crowd. They obviously had wanted to see the rest of the show.

Kade dropped the bottle that she was holding in her hands. It bounced off the edge of the table and fell to the ground. It contents spilled out of its mouth and pooled on the floorboards. Kade cupped her hands over her mouth and was giggling hysterically at the two men fighting in front of her.

The man on the floor started to get up and pulled a wicked looking blade with his right hand. As he stood up fully, Zack had already withdrawn his revolver and had it pointed at the man's face.

"Are you finished yet?" Zack asked.

The man's mouth was open slightly, his jaw was clenched, and his eyes were full of anger. He looked like he was still going to try and attack even with the end of the barrel pointed at his face.

From behind him, Zack heard footsteps and the unmistakable sound of a shotgun being cocked. He turned his head slightly to the left to see behind him and the man ahead. The bartender stood there holding a long barreled shotgun pointed at Zack's back.

"Donny, put that fucking knife away and go sit down. And you, holster that thing, take that girl, and get the fuck outta my place and don't either of you come back!" The bartender said loudly.

The entire saloon seemed to have gone silent, including the jukebox which finished playing the song. All eyes watched the scene ahead of them with looks of terror, excitement, and worry.

Donny seemed to think over his options before finally sheathing his blade. "Take the bitch! And remember, heroes don't live forever." He then turned and walked towards the bar.

Zack exhaled and placed his revolver back in the holster. He held his left hand towards Kade.

"Come on down from there Kade."

Kade, looking confused as if she didn't know who he was, reached out and took Zack's hand nonetheless. Zack used his other arm and wrapped it around her waist and hoisted her down. He picked up her bag which was near the table, and slung it over his shoulder. He held her hand and started to walk towards the entrance. Zack was fearful that a blade or bullet might still enter his back as he walked. Kade staggered as she walked next to him. They went down the stairs once they were outside. Zack had to steady her greatly as she went.

Once on the ground, Kade immediately fell to her knees and vomited. Zack crouched down and did his best to hold her hair while she continued. When she finished she turned her head to the side looking at Zack.

"You know, you kinda cute mister." She then passed out.

Zack had to hurry and catch Kade's body before she fell in the mess she just created. He picked her up and carried her in his arms. Her head bounced lightly with each step he took. Zack walked onto the wooden bridge, and made his way towards his hotel room.


	20. Stock Up

August 23rd, 2279

Zack had nodded off for just about five hours when Kade finally stirred in the bed. There was sunlight coming through the window at an angle, its light was bouncing off the wall. She made a small moaning sound and stretched out her body. Her arm knocked against the headboard some. Zack shook his head a little and opened his eyes. He was sitting down with his back against the wall facing the side of the bed. He had his revolver in his hand sitting on his lap with his finger resting on the trigger guard. Kade turned her body to face Zack. She only opened one of her eyes and had her hand in a closed fist rubbing the side of her head.

"Wha, where am I?" She asked with raspy breath.

Zack took a moment to wake up fully. His body was still sore from the past couple days of travel. He thought back to last night when he entered the hotel and how the man behind the counter had reacted. It was difficult to open the entry door while having Kade in his arms, but he finally managed. The conversation played back through his mind.

"What can I do for you?" The man had asked. His eyes never swayed from the book in his hands.

"I'm good, thanks." Zack had responded.

The man looked up from his book with shock on his face. He tried to force himself to make a straight face, but had some trouble keeping it. "Um, will that young lady be in need of a room to sleep off whatever she decided to take part in this evening?"

"No, she'll stay with me."

"Alright, uh…very good sir." He then went back to his book as Zack walked up the stairs with Kade.

Zack looked over into her one open eye. "Well good morning. You're in my hotel room currently."

"What happened last night?"

"It seems like you decided to have a few more drinks after I left the saloon."

"Oh no. I don't remember much of anything after I finished that wine. I usually only stick with wine, other stuff tends to make me to do weird things. I didn't do anything like did I?"

Zack gave a small laugh and smiled. "Let's just say that it was fortunate that I went back to the saloon when I did."

"Ugh." Kade turned her body to sit on the bed. Zack had taken the time to zip her jumpsuit back to the top. She had her head facing down with her hands over her eyes. She brought her head up and brushed her hair backwards.

"My head is pounding, and my mouth tastes like shit."

"My canteen and some mentats are on the night stand for you there." Zack pointed next to the bed.

"Thanks." Kade reached over and put some of the mentats in her mouth and chewed. She grabbed the canteen and took a long drink from it before setting it back down. "What did I end up doing?"

"Well, at first you were just dancing to some music. Nothing too bad. A crowd had gathered around you to watch, so you decided to try and take off your jumpsuit next. Luckily your belt prevented it from coming off completely. But there was this real nice man willing to help you out. Kade had the look of disgust when he said the last part. "Oh, did I mention you were up a wooden table the whole time."

"I can't believe I did all that. I'm so embarrassed. Now everyone in town has seen me."

"Relax Kade. Like I said, it was good I was there. I stopped that man before he could finish getting your belt off. I then took you back here to sleep it off."

She exhaled. "That's a relief. Thanks Zack. I'm sorry you always have to rescue me from situations."

Zack shrugged. "It's alright Kade."

"I feel horrible for making you sleep on the floor there. How come you didn't use your bedroll?"

"Well, it seems like some people either saw where I went with you, or asked around. But I had quite a view visitors knocking last night. They asked how much it would be to spend some time alone with you. They thought I was your pimp or something. I had to stay awake for most of the night telling them off." Zack lifted his arm gesturing his revolver.

"What animals." She looked around the room fully. "Is there a bathroom here somewhere?"

"Yeah, it's down at the end of the hall, you okay to walk?"

"I think I'll be ok, thanks." Kade got up walked over to the door, unlocked it with difficulty, and left the room.

Zack stood up and put his revolver away. He stretched his arms outward and heard his back crack a few times. Kade had left the door open when she left. He didn't close it so she could find her way back. He got his belongings together, filled his canteen, and took his map out. He placed his duster back on, attached the pauldron, and sat on the bed waiting for the return of Kade while he looked at his map. It seemed like the next settlement to get water and supplies was called Aguila, about three days travel from Cherry Cliff by the distance.

What seemed like ten minutes, Kade finally returned. She had taken the time to clean her face, and untangle the mess of her hair. She stood by the doorway of the room.

"Well, I should probably check out of here before I get charged for another night." Zack said as he got up and placed his map back in his pack.

"Did you happen to get my bag?"

"Yeah, it's by the end of the bed."

She walked over and picked up her side bag. "Oh good. I'd feel horrible if I lost my journal. I've had it for a long time."

Zack got up and grabbed his pack and put it on his shoulders along with his now full canteen. "Come on, we'll go see about that caravan at the Good's Store. I need to restock anyhow."

They both made their way to the lobby of the hotel. There was a different person behind the counter this time when Zack walked down the stairs, an older woman. He turned in his key and left the hotel with Kade.

"Should we get something to eat at the J's first before we check the store out?"

"Actually, we both kind of got banned from that place last night. I fought with that man that tried to undo your belt, and I also withdrew my gun. The bartender didn't like that too much."

"Oh." She responded softly.

"I'm sure they have some food at that store though. Don't worry."

They made their way down the wooden steps to the first level. The small bazaar was bustling with activity this morning. Zack also could see smoke rising from the refinery near the end of Cherry Cliff.

"_Must be making more of those copper rods."_

They both passed the merchants selling various things, and headed towards the Good's Store. They walked on to the wooden planked sidewalk and Zack opened the door. It creaked as it extended fully. The lighting was dim and it smelled of turpentine. The store seemed void of customers as far as Zack could tell. He didn't even see anyone behind the counter at the other end of the store. There were three aisles present, with shelves holding a variety of goods. There seemed to be no organization to how things were arranged. There was food items mixed with ammunition. Weapons were sitting by cooking ware. Zack walked down the middle aisle towards the counter. Kade looked around with excitement and went down the left aisle, picked up and seemed to be inspecting some kind of wired contraption.

As Zack neared the counter he heard faint music coming from a doorway behind the counter, most likely some kind of backroom.

"Maybe they're not open." Zack called back to Kade.

"I'm right here mother [censored]! You are so loud." A voice said from behind the counter.

Zack leaned over the counter and saw a stocky Asian man sitting down on a chair eating something. He was wearing gray pants, a long sleeved white shirt, and had large glasses upon his face. Upon his shoulder sat some kind of yellowish lizard of some sort.

"Sorry I didn't see you back there. You're open for business?"

"What! Of course, I'm here aren't I?"

"Sorry if upset you. I'll just go take a look at your wares. Zack turned and walked towards Kade. He moved close to her and whispered. "That guy is a little strange."

Kade giggled some and put the object she was holding back on the shelf. Zack still had no idea what it was she was looking at. "Zack?" She said slowly. "I need to ask you something."

"Sure, what's up?"

"I- I decided I don't wanted to return to Dedge right away. I've thought about it for quite some time since you told me you were going to New Vegas. I want to get out there and see different parts of the wastes. All I've seen for most of my life are just the areas in and around the Phoenix ruins. I would really like to go with you to see New Vegas. With my expertise with fixing things, I'm sure I could get a job somewhere that pays well. If not, I can always come make my way back."

Zack was taken aback by what she had said. It took sometime for him to think of a polite way to answer. "I really don't think that is a very good idea. It's dangerous out there as you know and if anything were to happen to you, I would never be able to forgive myself for allowing you to come."

Kade's face turned a little red and she spoke with a raised voice. "This is just because I'm a woman huh? You think I won't be able to handle myself out there, or that I won't be productive at all?" She turned her body away from Zack and spoke quietly. Look, I'd feel safer if I was to travel with you, but if you don't want my company, I'll go it alone."

Zack stood there looking at the back of her head for a few moments thinking. There appeared to be no other alternatives, her mind seemed made up. "Alright Kade, if those are the choices. We'll travel together.

Kade turned around quickly and looked up to him. "Really?"

"Yes, there are some rules that you are to follow if you are to come with me."

"Such as?" She asked with a little sadness.

"First, as long as we are not in a town or settlement, you'll do exactly as I say. If I tell you to stop, you stop. If I tell you to get down, you get down. Or if I tell you run and leave me to take on some horrible thing, you run. Got it?"

Kade nodded slowly. "Okay."

"Next, we are going to have to ration our supplies and try and conserve energy. So, we rest when I decide, eat how much I say, and we will keep conversation low as we travel, we can converse more at night when camp is set up, unless it is really necessary to speak. Can you handle this one?"

"Yes, it's not too bad."

"Alright, lastly, you need to send word to Dedge to let them know that you're ok, and where you're heading. I'm sure that they are worried about you. Also, we need to buy you some supplies and gear. I won't be carrying everything for us. For now that's all I can think of, but others might arise if need be."

Kade smiled big. "Great! Just let me know what I need to get."

Zack walked up and down the shelves looking at the assortment of treasures. He came one that had some weapons. "Hey Kade, you are going to need some protection out there. What do you feel comfortable with?"

Kade came over to where Zack stood. She looked over the array of weapons. She picked up a long knife. She looked it over on each side before placing it back down. She then picked up a 10mm submachine gun. She had to use both her hands to lift it and could barely keep it aimed out in front of her. Zack took notice of this and took it from her hands and placed it back on the shelf.

"I've never really used a gun before, all I've ever handled is dynamite and the mines back at Dedge."

Zack saw something silver sticking out from under some combat shotgun ammo drums. He pulled it by the part that stuck out. "Here you go Kade, how about this. It seems more suited to your style." He passed it over to her.

"Wow, a laser pistol out here. I think I only came across just one of them scavenging one time. But we traded it to a caravan. You think I'd be able to use this thing?"

"Sure, why not? There isn't much recoil and the accuracy is pretty good. You will have to tell me of its condition though. I have no expertise in the quality of laser weapons."

Kade looked it over in her hands, checking the wires and connecters. "Yeah, it seems like it's in pretty good shape. Do you think they have energy cells for it?"

"If not, it's still a good find." Zack looked down to her feet. "You okay with those shoes of yours? They seem like they would be painful after awhile."

"These things." She raised a foot and looked at them. "They are quite comfortable, I'd rather not get rid of them just yet."

Zack made his way through the store, bringing items to the counter to buy. He found a decent sized one compartment leather pack with attachments on the left side of it. He found a red colored padded blanket that would work perfectly as a sleeping pad for her. Zack also placed some sticks of dynamite, two one liter plastic bottles filled with water, and many containers of pre-war food. He also found some medical supplies, took two syringes of med-x and one stimpak. He set his own pack down and pulled out the ripper and the boxes of .32 caliber ammo.

He looked to the man still sitting down behind the counter. "I want all these items that are up here and any energy cells that you might have for the laser pistol. I have these to place up for trade as well."

The man hopped out of his chair and got up on an overturned wooden crate. His head barely rose above the counter. He looked at the ripper and opened the boxes of ammo to inspect the rounds. He then looked over all the things that Zack had placed on the counter. He made his way to the back room for a moment, and returned with five energy cells for the laser pistol. Kade was nearby looking at some bluish papers off to the side of the counter.

"Okay, I will deduct the price from what you brought." The owner looked like he was doing some math in his head. "Alright, twelve hundred caps for everything."

From his left Kade spoke. "That's a lot to spend on me Zack."

"It's fine. Oh yeah, are you able to send messages out through caravans? I'm looking to send one to Dedge. Do any caravans go through there?"

"Yes I can do that. It will be extra eighty caps, so twelve eighty then." The shop owner brought out some yellow paper and a pen upon the counter.

Kade made her way over. She took the paper and pen, and began writing a message to be delivered to Dedge.

Zack reached down to his pack and opened his hidden compartment. Kade happen to look down and could see all the caps that he had stored there. She kept silent about it though. Zack paid the man the amount agreed upon and starting to pack his and Kade's new bag with the supplies. Her new bedroll attached quite well to the pack. She placed it on her shoulders. He thanked the shop owner and they made their way to the entrance.

Kade leaned over and whispered. "Why are you traveling with so many caps, it seems dangerous to do so."

"The entry fee for the poker tournament is ten thousand caps. I have been saving for quite sometime."

"You have that many caps in there?"

"Well, not exactly. It's only little under six now. I have some ideas to make up the rest though."

Zack was the first to exit the store. As he did, he was hit in the gut by the butt of an assault rifle. The wind was knocked from him and his arms were restrained on each side by different people. He could hear Kade behind him yelling in protest.


	21. Anything But My Father's Gun

August 23rd, 2279

It took a few moments for Zack to regain himself and lift his head up to see who had assaulted him. He was being restrained on each side by two male NCR Rangers. He didn't recognize either of them. They moved him down from the wooden planked sidewalk to the path in front of the Good's Store. They started pulling him to the right along the path. Zack had no choice but to allow them to lead him. He couldn't resist the both of them with his arms restrained.

"Hey! What's going on? Leave him alone!" Kade came along the side of one of the Rangers and tried to tug on his arm.

"_Please don't hurt her."_

The Ranger brushed her off easily by jerking his arm away from her. "Back off, this doesn't involve you."

"But-" Kade's face looked like she was pondering something she could do.

Zack turned his head towards her. "Kade," he spoke hoarsely, "just do as they say until I find out what is going on."

Kade looked quite concerned. She was biting her lower lip and nodded once. She paused on the path and stood watching as they made their way towards the building next to the power storage unit.

Zack spoke but kept his voice low. "So, what exactly is going on?

"You'll find out soon enough, you're going to have a little chat with the Lieutenant." The Ranger from the right spoke this time and chuckled afterwards.

Multiple things were running through Zack's mind. He couldn't fathom what he had done to anger the NCR troops. Or perhaps the Lieutenant just wanted to thank him personally for helping patch up Calhoun yesterday. He shook this thought off though. They wouldn't have the need to attack him and drag him off for a pleasant exchange. Something was definitely up.

"Well, if I'm going to be occupied for a bit, will you at least give my belongings to that woman back there first?" Zack tried his best to sound unnerved.

"Shut up!" One of the Rangers barked. There was no more conversation as they continued onwards.

When they neared the building that had the Ranger patrolling back and forth the previous night, Zack saw the man that Kade had described as Lieutenant Green. He was dressed similar to the other Rangers, but his uniform seemed more suited towards commanding officers. It looked like he was more ready to go to a dinner party than a battlefield. He was leaning against the railing on the porch with a cigar in his right hand. He looked more menacing than he'd imagined him to be. Zack could see that Sergeant DeLeon was on the porch as well. He was on the far right side and seemed to be staring off into the sky. Green looked down to Zack with his one eye and gave a nasty grin. His gold tooth was glinting from the morning sun. The Rangers stopped pulling Zack along when they neared the stairway to the porch. They let go of him and moved outwards on each side with their rifles raised and aimed towards him. Zack placed his arms at his sides with his fists closed. He knew better than to try anything.

"Lieutenant Green I suppose? What do I owe the pleasure of being brought here?" Zack asked cautiously.

Lieutenant Green pushed up from the railing and made his way down the steps placing his cigar in his mouth. He walked in front of Zack and stood there for a moment looking him over.

After a few moments he spoke, while the cigar hung from the right side of his mouth. "Let's cut the bullshit alright, Zack is it?" His voice was deep and had a commanding nature to it.

Smoke from the cigar made its way towards Zack's face. His eyes stung some but he hid his discomfort. "Very well, what do you want from me?"

"It seems you caused quite the disturbance in J's last night. You had the gall to pull a firearm on a drunken bastard who only held a knife and probably couldn't wield it all to well. I got quite a few complaints from the owner and some of his customers that you also ended their entertainment. I don't like my residents and passerby's to be discontent. They tend to cause me trouble later on, or never return to spend their caps. This cannot go unpunished. So I as you, what do you think is fair?"

"Ended their entertainment did I? They were sitting around gawking and drooling at a woman who had a little bit too much to drink and was unknowingly making a fool of herself." Zack tried to keep the anger from his voice as best as he could.

"I don't care how much the skank had to drink." Green threw a punch that connected with the side of Zack's jaw. "You should have left her ass up there!"

Zack had to pause to recollect himself while rubbing the left side of his face. He could taste blood on the inside of his mouth. "She happened to be my friend of mine, and any person with a shred of decency should have done the same thing!" The anger in Zack's voice was clearly evident now.

Green scoffed and moved Zack's duster aside exposing his revolver. He pulled it from the holster. Zack could do nothing to stop him.

"Wow, very nice." Green held his revolver out in front of him looking it over while taking a few steps back. "Someone had said that the gun was something they had never seen before. I think a fair punishment would be for me to have this and for you to get the hell out of my town."

"No, please!" Zack stepped forward a bit, one of the Rangers moved quickly between him and Lieutenant. Zack halted his advance. "It means a great deal to me, I have caps you could have instead."

Green shook his head and turned his back to Zack. "No, I think this will do quite nicely. I had been looking for a new sidearm after all."

"But-" Zack's chest tightened, his eyes began to water, without his father's gun he wouldn't be able to continue on with the same fervor as before. Zack wouldn't be one to call materialistic. In this world at anytime, you could be rolled and be left with nothing but your skivvies. But, he couldn't bear to part with anything that was passed down from his parents. It was all he had left of them besides his memories. He quickly thought of his options, or of anything else he could say to persuade the Lieutenant, but nothing compelling came to mind.

Green turned back around when he neared the wooden steps. "Turner, move out of the way." The Ranger in front of Zack moved back to his previous position. Green pointed his father's gun at Zack's chest. "I was just going to drag your ass out of town. But, perhaps I should just be done with you so you won't have to worry about losing it?"

Zack stood silently, a small part of him didn't care at this point. Sergeant DeLeon moved from where he had stood on the porch and seemed to decide to finally speak his mind.

"Lieutenant Green!"

"What is it Sergeant?" The way he said it sounded like he didn't care what the Sergeant was about to say. The revolver never swayed from Zack.

"With all due respect sir, before you decide to make a mistake, this is the man that was at the entrance yesterday afternoon when the Rad Hawk attacked. He tended to Calhoun's injury quite well I might add. I'm guessing the woman that he took from the saloon last was the one that was accompanying him then as well."

"Like any of that makes a difference. I didn't ask him to help."

"Brian, I'm not asking as an enlisted soldier, I'm asking man to man. Most of the Rangers don't respect you all too much except these two goons here." DeLeon walked down the steps and stood next to the Lieutenant. "You do this, and I'm gone. With the way you act, it won't be too long till the others mutiny against you. I'm usually the one that keeps them at bay." DeLeon put his hand over Green's and eased the revolver down so it pointed to the ground by Zack's feet. "I'll escort him out of here, and I'm sure that he would be grateful to get his weapon back as well." Green stood motionlessly while DeLeon pried the gun from his hand. DeLeon then walked towoards Zack, he looked to both Rangers on either side. "Stand down guys. Come on Zack, let's go."

"Yeah, get that garbage out of my town. I don't want to see him again." Lieutenant Green said as he walked up the steps. He then entered the building and slammed the door. The two Rangers shouldered their rifles. One of them spit by DeLeon's feet as they walked onto the porch. They sat down on a bench that was to the left of the door and stared angrily towards Zack and DeLeon.

Zack turned and followed alongside DeLeon who was already leaving. He was able to breathe easier now. "Thank you for that Sergeant. I didn't really see any way out of that situation."

DeLeon shook his head with disgust. "I'm getting real fed up with that guy. He doesn't care about anyone but himself. I don't know how he got promoted to where is now. I'm sorry as well. You won't be able to come back here as long as we are stationed here."

"I don't plan on returning."

They both walked passed the bazaar. Zack had been looking around for Kade's presence since they started off, and finally found her sitting down by the entrance of the small canyon by the entrance. She had her arms wrapped around her knees with her head resting on top looking down. He stopped on the path and turned towards DeLeon. "Will you have to take me all the way out?"

"No, here is fine." DeLeon handed Zack's revolver back to him. Zack placed it back in his holster and thanked him. "If I recall correctly, you're on your way to New Vegas?"

"Yes I am."

"Well, most likely you'll pass through Hoover Dam to get to Nevada, be careful approaching it. There is a rather large detachment of NCR troops there. You don't want to be taken for a raider or slaver. Just take it slow and you'll be alright."

"Thanks. Good luck with things here. Perhaps Lieutenant Green will have a change of heart one day."

DeLeon laughed. "I don't know about that, but I'll manage. Take care of yourself." He turned and walked away.

Zack walked over to Kade and tapped her head a few times. She looked up slowly and her eyes lit up.

"Zack!" She quickly got up quickly brushing the dirt from her clothes. "I thought the worst. What was it all about?"

Zack thought best to spare her what had happened. "It was just a misunderstanding, no harm done. You ready to head out? We are starting off kind of late today, but it'll have to do."

She looked questionably at him for a moment. "Yeah, I'm ready as I'll ever be I suppose."

They both entered the small canyon to leave Cherry Cliff. Zack reached down and felt his revolver from the outside his duster. He was relived that he got it back. He looked over to Kade who had a blank stare across her face. "Everything ok?" He asked her.

"Yeah, I'm still embarrassed about last night is all."

"Don't be, we'll probably never see any of these people again."

"True."

"So, how are you feeling about traveling the unknown and what we'll encounter out there?"

"I admit I'm a little nervous. I have never been out more than a few days scavenging. I think we'll be alright though."

"Yep, should be fine. I might be changing our traveling time to nights though, it's what I started out on and it's usually safer."

"Alright I can manage that."

They both exited the gate to the mouth of the canyon. The sun was already above them and Zack could feel it toasting his skin. He pulled his goggles up to his eyes and placed his head wrap loosely as a hood over his head. Margret was seated at her desk, puffing on a cigarette waiting to record the information of incoming travelers. There were Rangers present on guard, but they paid no particular interest to Zack and Kade. They both walked down the dirt path towards the highway.

"A crazy thing happened while you were being escorted away by those two Rangers. I walked back to the bazaar to see if they had anything new to view and I saw a young girl who was by a booth sniffling. She was wearing filthy clothes and was very thin. I asked her what was wrong. She told me that her mother was hurt and needed some help. I asked her where she was. The young girl pulled me along to the left side where the stairs went up to the second level. She said she was lying underneath them. I went over to look when out of nowhere I was tackled to the ground. I must've had four kids on top of me. They were trying to pull my pack and side bag off while holding me down at the same time. One of them was holding a knife and looked ready to use it. Luckily I was able to kick one of them off and reach down for my laser pistol. They pretty much gave up when they saw I had it. They moved away and I was able to get up while keeping the pistol aimed at them. I told them what they did was wrong and that they'd get what was coming to them someday, but not from me. I then walked backwards away from them and decided to wait by the entrance for you. I didn't think that kids could do such a thing, horrible little monsters."

Zack was laughing when she finished. She shot him a playful angry look. "You think it was funny?"

Zack shook his head. "In a sense yes. But, I should of told you to never trust kids when their alone, it usually leads to trouble." He looked down to Kade's hip. She had made a make shift holster for her laser pistol out of leather and some stripped wire. "Very clever with that holster, was it loaded at the time?"

She looked down to it. "Yeah, it's functioning fine. I'm glad I didn't have to fire it though. Don't know if I could have the death of a child on my conscience."

"Sill, we'll get you some practice when were further away from here. Hold up for one moment." She stopped. "Turn around, I just want to make sure that everything is sitting right and won't go anywhere." He looked over her pack and sleeping pad that was attached on the side. He also lifted it to make sure the weight was balanced. "Did you put the dynamite in your side bag?"

"Yeah I did, along with my tools as well. Just the items I might have to grab quickly."

"Good thinking. So, we'll probably end this day short so we can rest and begin to travel at night."

She nodded and they both began walking down the road side by side.

* * *

**Apologies, I was looking back at something and I realized that a chapter did not upload right. The proper one for chapter 11 is up now titled _Heads I Win, Tails You Lose_. I'm sure everything was confusing. I feel really dumb for allowing this to happen. Thank you for reading.**


	22. Crimson Surge

August 23rd, 2279

As the duo started on, Zack realized that the day was actually quite pleasant compared to the past few. There was cloud cover that was heading to the both of them which would block the sun out within several hours. A strong wind was also present, which was blowing violently from the east. It helped the both of them stay cool as it rushed over their perspiring bodies. It sometimes caused the dust of the barren land to dance around the both of them. Kade would cough violently and rub at her eyes every so often because of it. Zack felt terrible for not remembering to buy her anything to cover her mouth or eyes with. He actually offered his own to her, but she thankfully declined.

After about an hour worth of traveling on the highway, Zack and Kade finally finished passing the Estrella Mountains to the right and the horizontal mountain to the left. They had to hike down a rather steep path though. Kade stayed behind Zack so she could follow the same footing he took. All around in front of them it had opened up, you could see for miles. Zack peered to the left of him. He did not want to start traveling north west until he was sure that they passed that radiation black spot on his map caused by the detonated nuclear missiles so long ago. He did not know how far the danger zone extended, but he calculated that at least one more day of trekking north should be enough before heading towards Aguila. Zack wasn't too sure what type of place this town was, there were no notes on his map about it. He just knew that they would most likely need more water by then, so they had little choice but to visit it.

"Hey look, there are the edges of Phoenix." Kade said from his right and pointed.

Zack looked over, and far away he could see the fringes of what was left of the ravaged city of Phoenix. There were the many silhouettes of homes, stores, warehouses, and further in near the center were towering skyscrapers. "Whoa, it's massive. I never got the chance to see it when I was traveling with my mother to Polvo. I guess we took a different path."

Kade nodded. "Yep, not all of it is exactly Phoenix though. Phoenix is actually more the central part, and other cities and towns branch off from it. I think over time the other names of places were forgotten, and it was just known as the Phoenix ruins. Also, long ago, with the way the mountains surround it almost on every side, the area used to be called, "The Valley", or something similar."

"How much of it have you and others of Dedge explored?" Zack asked and started to walk onwards again.

Kade had to jog a moment to catch up to the side of him. She was now on his left side. "Over the years that I've been doing it, it was just mainly the southern and eastern areas. They pretty much cleared out the western part before I was born. We never went too far in though. There are deep pockets of radiation speckled throughout its core and most of the buildings aren't very stable. Along the edges there are an abundance of ghoul settlements that we sometimes trade with. I usually avoided those trips though. They make my skin crawl." She made a quick disgusted face.

Zack smiled under his head wrap. He knew that most people feared ghouls. Those that didn't fear them would discriminate and treat them rotten. Zack had met quite a few ghouls in his short time on this planet. They were just like people, obviously not the way they looked, but the fact that there were the occasional ones that had good character. Of course the opposite was true as well, there was quite a few of them that deserved their face crushed in by the heel of your boot.

Zack was gazing around the landscape in front of him. "There must've been some amazing things you saw while you were out scavenging."

Before Kade could respond, Zack saw something flickering from the side of his goggles. He quickly looked over and saw some kind of black shape in the distance hovering over Phoenix. His mind screamed Rad Hawk. He didn't know how well their eyesight was, or if it had spotted them yet. He also wondered if this was the same one as the day before.

"Kade, get down!" He said quickly and he crouched to his knees. Kade followed suit immediately. Zack pulled his goggles down to his neck and reached back to his pack for his binoculars. He looked back to Kade as he did so.

She was fumbling with her laser pistol. She had pulled it out of the holster carelessly and it fell to the ground in front of her. She quickly picked it up and held it in front of her, her hands were shaking slightly as she looked around for some kind of threat.

"Don't worry. It's nothing close by." Zack turned back to the speck in the sky and brought the binoculars to his eyes.

Kade set down her laser pistol softly and squinted to where Zack had aimed the binoculars. She brought her hand up to try and block the blinding sun. "Do you know what it is?" She asked softly.

"_What the hell is that thing?"_

"I thought it might have been a Rad Hawk, but it's something I've never seen. It's some kind of flying machine, like a small bus almost, with spinning blades attached to its wings and another on its tail. It looks to be painted a reddish color with dark grey lines flowing throughout it, with some kind of emblem on the side that looks like a sword and an assault rifle crossed over each other like an x with the letters C and S underneath."

Zack watched the weird contraption as it hovered over atop one of the tall buildings near the heart of Phoenix. The doors opened and what looked like ropes were thrown out, their ends dangled near the top of the building's roof. Zack then saw several people wearing combat armor, which was colored to the same alikeness as the outside of the machine, grab on to the ropes and slid down to the roof. They were all heavily armed, pulling their assorted weapons up as they made their way to a door which must lead to a stairway of some kind. Zack took notice how they moved in precise formation to one another. They were obviously trained soldiers.

Someone that remained behind on the flying thing pulled up the ropes rapidly and closed the door. To Zack surprise, the machine seemed to change somehow. Along the wing's tips, the blades that had been spinning horizontally were now facing vertically, and the vehicle sped off quickly to the south. Zack lowered the binoculars. He was pondering over what he had just seen. He seemed to have totally forgotten Kade's presence, who then cleared her throat behind him causing him to jump a little.

"Oh sorry, did you want to see?" He held out the binoculars for her.

She shook her head. "No, just had some dirt stuck somewhere." Her hair swayed across her face almost hypnotically from the wind. "I already know what it was and who they are from the description you just gave."

"Really?" Zack asked as he put the binoculars away and stood up. Kade stood up as well, and she started to walk off without saying a word. "Hey!" He called to her. "What was it?"

Kade turned around while she continued to walk backwards. She shrugged her shoulders once and smiled while she spoke. "I thought we were supposed to save our energy and only talk at night or if there was danger." She said it with sarcasm. She then stuck her tongue out at him and turned back around.

Zack couldn't help but laugh. He sprinted to catch up to her. "Oh come on," he said coercively, "we're cutting it short today anyways. Who exactly are they?"

"Alright, if you must know." She said with an excited voice. She reached into her side bag for a bottle of water. She took a long swig and returned it. "They're known as the Crimson Surge, and that flying thing is called a Vertibird. It's a hybrid type of machine; it can be both helicopter and plane. It can land and take off vertically, and fly at incredible speed when the propellers are faced forwards. Their area of operations is mainly eastern Arizona. Dedge hasn't had to deal with them directly yet, just a few of our teams had a few run-ins. Some of this information comes from caravans and traders as well."

"Apparently they started out as few groups of raiders who had some kind of pact together at one point to stick to their own territory and not interfere with the others. The larger raider group eventually came across some old military base that had barracks and storehouses of supplies ranging from armor, weapons and food. It is rumored that they found information about the locations of two other bases there that happened to fall within the borders of the other two raider parties. They learned that these three bases were part of some fail safe operation before the Great War occurred. They were to provide a front for American troops if the southwest was invaded by the Chinese war machine. Unfortunately there wasn't enough time to station soldiers at the bases before the war, and all the equipment sat in pristine condition unused."

"The leader of this group whose last name was Sills, decided it was time to expand. She geared up her own raiders, and began to invade the others. She forced them follow her command or else the only other option was death. They obviously had no other choice and submitted to her authority. Afterwards, they located and took control of the other two bases which happened to be an airfield and the other was some kind of motor pool. This was when she promoted herself to the rank of General and began to call her army, Crimson Surge. She appointed three of her most trustful underlings as Colonels, one to each of the bases, and each one more ruthless than the last."

"Wow," Zack cut in, "I never seen or heard of them before now. How valid is all this information though, and what are their plans?"

"Well, we didn't start seeing them until just a few months ago. I trust the people that spoke of them. They certainly seemed terrified about doing so as if there would be some unknown repercussions. Apparently they've been on a recruiting spree of some sort, been going around to many settlements, towns, and other raider groups trying to rally more soldiers for their cause. They are very hard to turn down, and not just because they bolster violence. To the average desperate person living anywhere, General Sills and her army were a Godsend. People are told if they join their ranks, they will be provided shelter, food, weapons, armor, training, caps, and they would all share the spoils of battle. It's no wonder why so many are signing up in droves."

"How do they train new recruits, and who taught them to use that kind of flying technology?"

"Luckily for them, there were training and tactical manuals archived in the bases. I even heard that the air base and motor pool had some kind of advanced machines that allowed a person to sit in, and be trained in simulation through video and audio means. I'm guessing that's how they learned to operate the Vertibirds, and probably learned to drive. They usually travel around along the ground in these large troop carrying trucks. They have remained pretty neutral when our teams have come across them. We are usually asked nicely to leave the area, which we do."

"No one is really aware of their long term plans but them. Apparently they are just pushing this whole recruiting thing to grow their army quickly. Last reports I heard, their army is about half the size of NCR's own. It would be great, but very unlikely, that they would decide to unite all of Arizona, and establish a new government that allowed people to finally rise from the crap that we all have grown accustomed to live in." Kade gave a sad, blank eyed stare towards the ground.

A long silence passed while Zack thought over all of what Kade had told him. They both began follow the road as it made its way upwards onto a hill. "Well, no matter what their plans are, they don't sound like they will be the ones to come around and help out. They were raiders after all. I mean, with the NCR, Caesar's Legion, and now the Crimson Surge, they all seem to just want followers so they can send them off to battle with those that their leaders disagree with. I don't believe the path to peace begins with a call to arms."

Kade responded softly. "If I recall correctly, a great man once said, I have never advocated war except as a means to peace."

Zack could only smile. Kade always could find a point for any side of a dispute. "That's very clever. Who was it that said it?"

"Um…I think it was a president. It was the man that led the winning army during the war when America split apart. I remember reading about it in a badly damaged history book I found once."

As they neared the top of the hill, the clouds had finally moved to block the bright sun. It was then Zack realized how hungry he was. He had completely forgotten to eat anything earlier from all the excitement that had occurred before he left Cherry Cliff. He figured they had traveled far enough for the day and there happened to be several large boulders to the right of the hill which would provide them shade once the clouds moved on. Zack started to walk towards them while he gestured to Kade to follow.

"Come on, I haven't had anything to eat all day. You must be hungry as I am."

"Actually, I had the chance to eat something while I was waiting for you earlier, but I could eat." A sly grin appeared across her face as she sat down on the ground cross legged.

"Well, either way, we can eat and rest for now until nightfall before we continue on." Zack said and sat down with his back to the boulder. He closed his eyes for a moment to relax. As he did so, he heard a muffled explosion not too far away. It was quickly followed by sporadic gunfire from multiple automatic weapons. Kade yelped from the front of him.

"_Why do things seem to always have a way to find me?"_

Zack's eyes remained closed while he contemplated if the both of them should bother to investigate.


	23. First, You Light The Fuse

August 23rd, 2279

Zack kept his eyes closed and concentrated on the sound of his breathing. The inhaling and exhaling from his lungs was comparable to that of the tide of the ocean. Another explosion occurred in the distance. This one was more blatant than the last. Zack's curiosity finally overcame him, and he wanted to know what was going on.

"Zack?" Kade drew his name out as she said it.

Zack opened his eyes to look at her. She looked nervous while she kept her hand resting on top of the laser pistol at her side. He quickly reached back to grab his binoculars. "Alright Kade, I'm going to go check it out. It just might just be the practice you need. Stay close and do as I say, alright?"

Kade nodded. She pulled her laser pistol from her holster and held it facing upwards.

Sounds of gunfire were still present as Zack stood up slowly from behind the boulder. He brought the binoculars to his eyes. From this vantage point, he could easily see the chaos ensuing below. Down the hill no too far away, the road curved to the east a bit before continuing north again. On the south side of the road he could see a small one story structure. The building was made of brownish colored bricks and the paint looked to have been burned off by the sun long ago. It had a flat roof with a short raised wall going around the top of it. Zack could see two people on the roof, using the short wall as cover, popping out every so often to fire down below. They were dressed similar to raiders, but Zack didn't want to make that conclusion just yet. They could be desert dwellers taking on Rad Scorpions after all or, perhaps something worse.

He looked across the road to see what they were shooting at. Sure enough, they were your common raider scum. Zack could see two unmoving Brahmin lying in the road with gear and supplies strapped to their backs. One of them had their entire back end blown off. Its intestines and numerous purplish stomachs were spilling out from it and blood was pooling on the road next to it. Zack figured it had been the victim of some kind of explosive. The other Brahmin was riddled with bullets all along its side and its legs were sprawled out in strange directions.

Next to the first Brahmin, lying face down somewhat behind it was a woman dressed with armor less clothes. Her long blonde hair whirled around from the passing wind. A small pistol was clutched in her right hand. Her body seemed untouched except her legs, they had been completely blown off from the knees down. She had been the caravan merchant Zack had figured. North of the road, next to the ditch was a man wearing leather armor. He too was dead. His blood was splattered along the dirt and rocks behind him.

Zack saw several rock clusters of which the raiders were firing at across the road. Zack could see two people cowering behind them. One was sitting down on the ground, grasping their legs tightly and was rocking back and forth. The other was crouched low wearing metal enforced armor. He was toting a Chinese assault rifle, and was leaning out to fire at the inside of the building at random intervals. He would most likely run out of ammo soon, or one of the raiders would get smart enough and flank the two of them.

Zack lowered and put away his binoculars. He looked to Kade who wore a questionable gaze on her face. Zack knew they had to do something for the trapped men. If Zack and Kade had been traveling any faster, they might have passed by this building and had been the target of an ambush instead. That plus that fact that the raiders would clean up the area and ready themselves for the next victim that happen to pass by. After a moment to plan a quick strategy, he finally spoke to Kade.

"Okay, some raiders are holed up in a building down there by the road. They ambushed a passing caravan. There are two survivors who are still under fire. Only one is armed and doesn't look to have much chance getting out unscathed. That's where we are going to help. That is, if you want to take part in it? I could go alone."

Kade nodded slowly and her face started to lose some color. "No, I want to help. So what should we do?"

"Were going to hustle down there, the sound of gunfire will cover our approach. There might be more in the building that I wasn't able to see. There were no windows on the back of the building though, so they won't be able to spot us from inside. We are going to run first to the back of the building. There is a ladder on the side which I'm going to climb up and take down the two raiders on the roof. Your job will be to stay on the ground and watch for any exiting ones from the building. If need be, take cover behind the dumpster there till I can assist you. Got that?"

"Yep, what's next?" She quickly said.

"I'm going to try and signal to the caravan guard that we are there to help and for him to hold his fire while I'll assault the inside. I'll come back down the ladder and we'll head to the entrance from each side. I'll take the east and you the west. You'll just stay behind the cover of the building, only come out if I call for you to help. The sun will be behind you which will give some advantage. I'm sure once whoever is inside realizes return fire stopped they'll head out to collect their goods. That's when I'll hit them from behind. If everything goes to plan, we should be fine. If things get too crazy though, just get out of there and take off."

"What! I won't leave you to take on who knows how many others. I don't think it will come to that. I'm sure it will all go smooth." She gave a reassuring smile which actually made Zack not feel as nervous for her well being.

"Ok, let's hurry."

They both quickly bolted down the hill and made their way to back of the building. Kade was trailing behind Zack a little as shots were continuing to crack through the air. Zack crouched down once he was close to the back wall and stripped off his pack and canteen. After a moment Kade was there next to him. She did the same taking her pack off as well, but left her side bag on. She still brandished her laser pistol in her hand. Zack withdrew his revolver and turned to Kade.

"Okay, I'm going up. Watch the side where the ladder is, but stay near the back."

Zack walked around the corner and began making his way up the metal ladder that was attached to the side of the bricked building. He only used his left hand to pull himself upwards so his other could be ready to fire if need be. Zack became surprised as one of the rungs he had grabbed suddenly broke off, the metal was quite corroded. Zack gasped loudly as it came off in his hand. He had to balance his body quickly forward to prevent from falling to the ground. He was successful and his face banged into the side of the ladder causing his head to throb. He tried his best to shake the pain off and continue on. He reached up for the next available rung. He was almost near the top.

Zack raised his head above the small wall on the roof to survey the two that were up top. One was busying himself shooting downwards. The other on the left was reloading his bolt action rifle. He was crouched down using the small wall as cover. He was facing towards the back of the building, but took no notice to Zack. Zack waited until he finished reloading and began to fire at the trapped men. Zack pulled himself up and over as quietly as possible and onto the roof, staying low while getting ready to attack. He moved a little closer to the two men, neither of them none the wiser. He aimed to the right one first and fired two shots quickly into the man's upper back. He collapsed down without a sound. The other heard the blasting shots from his revolver and quickly brought his rifle around behind him. Zack fired two shots at him as well. The first one whipped by him as the man was turning. The second one impacted his upper left chest causing the man to scream with agony and to lose his balance. He dropped his weapon and fell over the side of the building backwards. Zack could hear a thud as he landed. There were no more screams from him however.

Zack quickly made his way over to the front of the roof. He could hear a few shots coming from below him in the building. He waved his hands above his head to try to get the attention of the caravan guard. The man eventually noticed, looked up, but held a suspicious look upon his face. Zack tried to convey with gestures that he would have used with his own militia to tell the man to hold his fire while Zack would assault those that exited. The guard seemed to understand. He nodded and took full cover behind a jagged boulder.

Zack quickly made his way back to the ladder, taking out the four spent casings from his gun as he went. He let them fall to the roof while he loaded it back up from the ones on his holster's belt. He made his way down the ladder as fast as he could, taking special care of the broken rung. He jumped down when he neared the ground. Kade came out from the back to meet him.

"Are we good to attack the front?" She asked hurriedly.

Zack nodded quickly. "Yes, take the other side, but remember to only help if I call out, otherwise stay back."

"Understood." She responded a little sadly. She then turned and sprinted around the corner making her way to the other side.

Zack took a few deep breaths and turned to walk towards the front of the building. He crouched low, using the corner as cover, and waited until those inside left. The front of the building had many windows that had long ago been broken out. It seemed like an eternity passed while he sat still waiting. He saw Kade at the other end peering over from behind the other side. Finally, he heard the muffled sounds of conversation coming from within. Zack prepared himself for whatever was to pour out.

"Finally one of those idiots took him down." A man said as he came out.

Zack saw the man. He was wearing pathetic rags for armor, and seemed to be carrying some kind of metal weapon in his hands. Zack waited patiently for others to emerge.

"Did you hear those fucking loud shots though? I didn't know Craig or Todd had any other weapons. Must've of been holding out." A woman spoke this time following behind the first man. She was wearing provocative clothes that barely covered any of her body. She was cradling a shotgun in her arms.

"I dunno, let's go see what we got." The first man shot back.

Zack was going to wait till they got further into the road before he made his presence known. Also, he wanted to see if anymore came out. Others holed up would be harder to take down. To Zack's surprise, he heard a charging scream and automatic gunfire by the road. He quickly looked to see what was going on. The caravan guard had decided not to wait for Zack and ran out from behind cover.

"You sons of bitches!" The guard cried out while rushing forward shooting.

The two raiders were frozen with shock as they were torn down by the incoming rounds. They fell down next to each other by one of the Brahmin, their final resting place. The caravan guard then rushed forwards to the building, still screaming curses and firing. When he neared the entrance, Zack actually thought the guard's rushed entry would be enough of a surprise to overtake them. This was quickly shattered however, when a huge barrage of flames came blasting out from the door that engulfed the guard fully.

The guard dropped his gun to the ground immediately. He was flailing around grabbing at his face while horrible screams pain that made Zack shudder. Popping sounds accompanied the screams as his skin boiled off. The guard fell down first to his knees, then face forward to the earth. The screams had subsided. The smell of burning flesh and hair wafted through the air causing Zack to feel nauseous. Luckily, his stomach was empty.

Zack figured this was his best chance and quickly got up holding his revolver out in front of him as he made his way in front of one of the windows. There was someone standing right in front of him on the other side. Their eyes were wide with surprise as Zack quickly dispatched the man by shooting a round into his neck. The man slumped downwards as blood spurted outwards from the wound. Zack moved his arm to the rest of the room and saw that there were three others in the building. All were armed. The most dangerous was the large muscular man with a metal tank on his back, and a flamer in his hands. The man was quicker than Zack was, and brought the flamer's barrel aiming towards him.

Zack cursed and had no choice but to quickly dive to the ground lying flat. He hit the ground hard. Dirt covered the side of his face while blistering flames flew overhead. It was only a matter of time until one of them came over to put a bullet in his back. The flames finally ceased and Zack turned his head and tried to bring his arm over to be able shoot at anyone that appeared. There was a problem though, while diving, he had unintentionally released his revolver.

"Go kill that shithead so we can get our loot!" A voice screamed from inside.

Zack turned his head frantically to find his weapon. He saw it, but it was out of reach unless he got up to his knees. Zack saw movement from his side. He feared the worst, but to his amazement, it wasn't a raider, but Kade. She was running from the opposite side of the building. She had a lit stick of dynamite in each of her hands. She threw them both expertly through two different glassless windows and dove to the ground away from the building. Zack covered his head with both his arms, he clenched his teeth, and his stomach tightened.

Zack heard swearing from inside, but it was quickly silenced by the deafening sound of explosions which caused a massive wave of air to rush over him. He could feel dust and debris fall on top of him. After the initial blasts finished, there were several other loud crashing noises. Zack forced himself to look. Apparently the dynamite had caused the roof to collapse and the building's walls were crumbling inwards, all of them except the one in front of him. He didn't want to stick around to be crushed underneath all of that.

Zack got up quickly and sprinted away from the building. He reached down, grabbed his revolver and holstered it along the way. He looked over to Kade who had come to the same conclusion about the wall as he did, and was moving away. For some reason she didn't get to her feet and was crawling on her hands and knees trying desperately to clear the path of the falling wall. Zack was too far away from her and all he could do watch helplessly as the wall fell to the ground. It caused bricks to scatter everywhere and a large dirt cloud to fill the surrounding area.

Coughing, Zack made his way quickly over to where Kade had been. He squinted through the floating dust for some sign of her. He finally located her body face down unmoving. Her lower half was covered with many bricks and fragments of wooden boards.

"Kade!" He cried out.

Zack began tossing the bricks wildly off her flinging them in all directions. When she was free he turned her over and felt her neck for a pulse. He exhaled a sigh of relief. She was still alive and had a strong pulse. Her chest was also rising and falling of normal breathing, she was just unconscious. He dragged her by the shoulders of her jumpsuit towards the road away from the now burning rubble. The fuel from the flamer must have spread all around.

"Kade, you smart crazy girl." He said more to himself than to her.

When he felt it was a safe enough distance away from the building he released her. He quickly took off behind the building to retrieve their packs. When he arrived by them, he saw that fire had been inching slowly towards them. He picked them up and ran back towards Kade. He crouched down next to her and propped her head up with her pack. He took his canteen and poured a little water over her face. She made a small moaning sound and moved her head slightly. He figured she would be ok with some rest.

The adrenaline that had been coursing through Zack's body was finally dissipating. His heart had been thundering the whole time ever since the caravan guard attacked and it too was now slowing down to normal. Zack made his way over where the other man had been hiding behind the rocks. When he got close, he was met with cries of fear.

"P- Please don't kill me, take all the stuff, it's yours!" The small framed man exclaimed. He held his hands out defensively in front of him.

The man looked to be near the age of Zack and happened to be still huddled behind the rock with the remnants of tears streaked across his cheeks. He had medium length jet black hair which hung loosely down the sides of his face. His eyes were a pale brown color of which Zack had never seen before. The smoothness of the skin on his face made it appear that he had not traveled the wasteland very much.

"_Damn. Save a man's life and this is how he thanks you."_


	24. My Sister's Keeper

August 23rd, 2279

"I'm not going to harm you…promise." Zack said and held his hands open showing the man he had no weapons of any kind. "Do you have any injuries?" Zack calmly asked the man.

The sitting man lowered his arms down from the front of him and stared intently at Zack for a few moments before finally speaking.

"Yeah, you don't look like one of them." The man leaned his body to the right to look at the smoking rubble behind Zack. He brought his hands to his face and tried his best to wipe the stains on his face from the tears. He then cocked his head to look at the side of Zack's face. "Did you know you're bleeding from your ear?" He asked after a moment. He then stared down at a small beetle that was climbing its way up a rock.

Zack reached up and felt his earlobe the man was looking at. He could feel dried blood there and also some going down his neck. He brought his hand in front of him and rubbed some flakes of dried blood between his thumb and index finger. "Yeah that happens sometimes when you're close to an explosion.

"I take it you were the one that took care of those assholes?" He pushed his hands on the ground and stood up.

"I did have some help with that." Zack quickly looked back to glance at Kade. She was still lying motionlessly where he had left her with her head propped up on her pack. He then turned back towards the man. "Sadly that other caravan guard didn't follow my instructions very well and got himself killed. Were you hit anywhere?" Zack asked and tried to visually look for wounds across the man's body.

The man was staring blankly at the road where his caravan lay in ruins. He didn't respond to Zack but shook his head slowly.

Zack raised an arm and snapped his fingers in front of the man's face. "Look you might still be in shock. Why don't you sit back down and I'll give you some water. What's your name?"

The man stood silently moving his eyes to each of the bodies in the road. He paused when he got to the long blonde haired woman who was face down. "Paul." He said at last and started walking towards the dead woman.

"Wait!" Zack called out. "I don't think you need to be that close just yet."

It was of no use. Paul made his way to the road and crouched down next to the woman. He turned her body over with strained effort. He reached a hand to her cheek and it wasn't too long before tears were running down his face again.

Zack exhaled a breath slowly and made his way towards Paul. He crouched down on the opposite side of him and looked down to the body. The skin on her body was as smooth as Paul's was. Her eyes were closed and her mouth hung loosely open while Paul held her head in his arms.

"Those pieces of fucking shit." He said through his crying sobs.

"Who was she?" Zack asked.

Paul looked to Zack's face. His eyes were shaking slightly and were bloodshot. "She's my sister…was my sister."

"I'm sorry for what happened to her and the rest of your crew." Zack tried his best to sound sympathetic even though a scene like this was all too common in the wastes.

"It's all my fault…I was the one that convinced her to come out here with me. Kept telling her that we'd be set forever if we made a couple of trading runs." He paused to wipe his nose with the back of his hand. He then rubbed it on the thigh of his pants. "It should've been me that died, not her. She was going to be married to one of my friends once we returned."

"Where are you from?" Zack asked after a moment. "Both of you don't look like you have traveled in the wastes all that much. You look too healthy and your skin is virtually unmarked."

Paul's crying sobs finally subsided and his tears ended as well. He sat down and stared and the burning remains of the raider hideout. "We're from a small settlement called Scorpion Bay off of Lake Pleasant. It's about forty miles north of here. The lake has receded quite a bit since the Great War, but the water remains pretty clean. It gets refilled a little each day by some kind of underground water table. The place that we all live in is a warehouse where boats used to be placed for long term storage. The only way to get to it is by a winding narrow two way road or across the lake itself. We have several hidden defense points so no one can enter without us knowing. We are able to grow a bunch of food on a few acres of land next to the lake and we also have a large paddock where we keep a few herds of Brahmin. We aren't aggressive or anything, we are a defensive people. My sister and I were just farmers. We were in charge of cultivating and planting."

Zack had sat down as well and listened while Paul continued on.

"We do have an abundance of food and water, but we were lacking weapons, medical supplies, and technologies that could really help us out. Our group had very heated discussion and debates a few months back about sending teams out to locate other settlements that we would be able to trade with. They finally agreed to do so and one of the teams came across Cherry Cliff. They found a business there that would trade the food for supplies we needed and hired those two guards to come back with them. We still had to have someone volunteer to travel with our stuff though. Those that volunteered would get first dibs on what they brought back. I wanted to go of course, but my sister tried to talk me out of it. She kept saying that it wasn't for me since I had never left the safety of the warehouse before and wouldn't know how to handle myself. I pleaded with her and she finally gave in and decided to come. And then all of this." He waived his hand in front of him towards all the carnage that had occurred. "It all happened so fast…I didn't even realize we were under attack. I was in the front with the first Brahmin. They didn't start the attack until the second one got nearer. I don't know what kind of bombs they used, just that they were very loud and as you can see, were very effective. I don't even remember how I got behind that rock with one of the guards. Maybe he pulled me along with the shooting started."

The wind had died down considerably and the sun was making its way towards the edge of the horizon.

"I wish we would've gotten here sooner. We might have been able to help more. What was her name?"

"Ana." Paul looked over to Kade resting next to the road. "I take it she is the one who helped you destroy that building?

Zack laughed. "Actually, she's the one who destroyed the building with some well thrown dynamite. I was busy lying face down on the dirt trying to not to die. Her name is Kade, I'm Zack."

Paul gave a faint smile. "Zack and Kade…was she injured?"

Zack shook his head. "No, she just had a little too much excitement for one day. I'm sure she'll be up in a few hours. Speaking of which, it's going to be dark soon. I'm going to gather some wood to make a fire with. Neither of us has eaten all day. I'm sure you could use some food too. How about we make a camp back behind those rocks where I found you? The sound from the explosion and the smoke might attract some unwanted attention, so it'd be wise to be behind cover in case anyone shows up. Can you dig a small pit for us and place some stones around it? Also, if it's ok with you, I'll cut us some meat from the Brahmin to eat for dinner."

"Yeah I wouldn't want them to go to waste. I think one of the guards pack's had a shovel attached to it." Paul got up, made his way towards the first Brahmin, and began to look over the gear tied to it.

Zack got up and searched the surrounding area for anything that would burn. About twenty minutes later, he had an armful of an assortment of thick sticks and weeds in his arms which would last for quite a bit. Paul was finishing up the fire pit when Zack returned. He placed what he was carrying next stones and rubbed his hands together to remove the dust. Zack took notice of a small bag that Paul had placed nearby. There were several spots of blood splattered across the backside of it. Zack thought it had been attached to the first Brahmin.

"Alright, I'm going to go grab my bag and bring Kade over here. Can you start breaking some of these sticks up for kindling?" Zack wanted to keep Paul busy as possible so his mind wouldn't focus too much on the death of his sister and the guards.

"Sure thing." Paul responded.

Zack got up returning first with his bag, then with Kade in his arms. He placed her down gently and placed her pack under her head same as before. She was still very out of it. He then went through the side pocket to grab his lighter. He took the small broken twigs from Paul and arranged them in the fire pit. He then lit from the bottom and began to add larger pieces to it to build the heat. Paul sat silently watching Zack as the flames grew before him.

"Can you make sure the fire doesn't go out? I'm going to get our dinner."

Paul nodded and Zack got up to head towards the Brahmin. He came back three large cuts of Brahmin and also had a small thin piece of metal that he picked up from the wreckage. He placed the metal over the fire and placed the meat upon it. It instantly began to sizzle at the edges of the base.

The sun had finally disappeared. The blackness of night was creeping over the land. Zack flipped the meat every so often as it cooked. As he did so he kept an eye on Paul as well. He was studying his face and wondered what was going through his mind. Paul was sitting cross legged with his elbows on his legs and his chin resting on his close fisted hands. He was staring at the flames flickering in the fire.

"It will be done shortly." Zack called out over the fire.

Without warning, Paul stood up quickly and gave a grunt of anger. "Look, I thank you for what you and Kade did Zack, but I can't just sit here idly while all my settlement's supplies lie in the road and my sister is decomposing by the ass end of Brahmin. I need to get away from here. I'm going to head to Cherry Cliff and ask for help to bring the supplies into town so I can complete the trade. I'm sure someone can help me bury my sister and the others as well." He grabbed the small blood stained back and began to walk towards the road.

"Paul." Zack called out. "You don't have to leave just yet. Please eat something first. I can help with the graves if need be."

Paul paused and turned around. His hands were at his sides in clenched fists. "You did enough for me already Zack. I just can't be here right now. I'll probably be back in the morning. Thank you for your help." He waived goodbye to Zack. He then turned and started to head in the direction of Cherry Cliff.

Zack thought about getting up and trying to convince him to stay, but then thought better of it. Paul was a man, and there were many emotions running through him. He knew what was best for him at this time. Zack sighed and leaned backwards using his pack for support poking the steaks with his combat knife.

When the meat was done, Zack got out his metal plate and placed one of the steaks on it. He grabbed his utensils and began to eat vigorously at it. The meat was excellent and it warmed him from the inside out. Once he finished with it grabbed another one and ate it as well. He moved the last one to the edge of the makeshift grill to keep it warm. He grabbed for his canteen and drank from it. He put a little on his hands and cleaned the blood from his ear and neck as best as he could. He then scooted himself along the ground putting his head on his pack and he stared up at the emerging stars. It wasn't too long before he fell asleep.

"Zack?"

Zack heard the voice and immediately sat up and pulled his revolver with his right hand and aimed it in front of him. He was breathing rapidly looking for a threat.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you." Kade spoke from his left.

Zack turned to look. In the pale moonlight he could see her sitting with a concerned expression across her face. He placed his revolver back in the holster and smiled to her. He vaguely remembered a dream he was having where he was walking through a city made of rusted metal. There were people there, but no matter how much he tried, they wouldn't speak to him. He wondered if the dream had any relevance to anything, but then quickly shook it off.

"It's good to see you're finally awake." Zack looked to the fire. Burning embers is all what remained of it. "You were out for a bit. I didn't mean to doze off. I was more tired than I thought I suppose."

Kade nodded slowly. "Where are we?" She asked and looked around squinting in the darkness.

Zack laughed. "We're still by the building you decimated, just off the road a bit. Speaking of which, didn't I tell you not to help unless I asked?" He asked with a hint of sarcasm.

Kade raised an eyebrow at him. "Well it was either that or else you'd have been barbeque." She gave a big grin.

"I don't know Kade." He said and grabbed the plate by his side. He placed the last bit of meat on it, it was still warm. He passed it over to Kade who took it quickly and began to eat at it with just her hands. "I thought I had the situation well under control. I was just lying low until I was able to get the jump on them. It was only a matter of time before they would've thrown their weapons down."

Kade tried to laugh but ended up choking a bit and spit out some food back onto the plate.

"Sorry." Zack said.

Kade shook her head. "It's ok."

"I'm glad you decided to do what you did. It was a crazy thing to do, but everything turned out good. I thought I was done for." Zack added.

"Yes…I didn't really know if what I was doing was going to help. I just saw them through the windows and threw the dynamite in. I don't really recall anything after they blew up. But, I guess that's where you helped out."

Zack nodded to her.

"Hey, wasn't there a survivor? Or did something happen to him?" She asked looking around again for him.

Zack took some time to think about how he should respond. He thought it best to leave out the part about Paul's sister.

"Yeah, the man lived. His name was Paul. He was traveling from north of here by Lake Pleasant. His plan was to trade extra food in Cherry Cliff for other supplies. He wanted head there to ask for help. Not too sure when he'll return."

"I bet he was terrified through the whole ordeal. He must have trusted you a lot to leave the both of us here alone with his stuff."

"Yeah, I hope he gets back home safe. You feel ok to travel?"

"Of course. A little explosion won't slow me down."

"Alright, good. Finish that up and we can head out."


	25. A Walk Through Dream Land

August 26th, 2279

Zack and Kade quickly made their way down the marble stairway back to the first level of the large building they were both in. The greenish wallpaper was peeling from the walls and the large tiled floors were cracking in many places. When they neared the last of the stairs, Zack turned to Kade.

"I didn't think you were going to do that." He said with some laughter in his voice. "We need to get out of here quick before the fire spreads and causes the second floor to collapse upon us."

"Right." She responded at once. "He didn't really leave much choice though. The way that he spoke of the children…I just couldn't allow him to continue with his work."

"I understand." Zack said and pulled Kade by the upper arm towards a hallway to their left. Once they entered it a robotic voice was heard echoing down from the far end of it. They paused to listen.

"Explosion detected in main lab. Threat level changed to Alpha. Consider all movement hostile unless given proper voice recognition."

Kade gasped and Zack clenched his jaw. Down the end of the hall was military grade Sentry Bot. It was painted olive green. Its optical sensors burned bright red in the low light within its armored round head. Its arms were lowered towards the ground at the moment. It turned itself with its tri wheeled legs to face the both of them. The metal of its large body creaked as it turned.

It bellowed down the hall to them. "Two targets detected. Please give proper voice command or you will be eliminated. You have three seconds to comply." The robot began to raise its left arm up aiming at them.

"Uh -" Kade managed to say while she stood frozen with fear.

Zack swore loudly. He quickly placed both his hands on her shoulders and guided her to the other side of the hall. As he was doing so a whooshing sound was heard erupting from the other side of the hall. Zack fell to the ground pulling Kade along with him. When they landed on the warm dirty tiles a missile impacted against the wall behind them and exploded. Shattered remains of concrete and drywall rained upon the both of them. A horrible acrid smell filled the air.

Zack's ears were ringing loudly. He shook his head a few times and looked around to get his bearings. He quickly sat up and pulled his revolver out. He moved and kept his back to the wall. From around the corner the robot began to speak again.

"Targets missing. Direct hit. Checking for other hostiles."

Zack peered carefully around the corner as Kade sat up and began to shake out debris from her hair looking towards him. Zack could see that the Sentry Bot was making its way up the wide hall slowly. It was pivoting its upper body left and right scanning for them. Zack brought his head back to look at Kade. She was biting her lip and looking at him apologetically.

"I'm sorry Zack. I totally forgot about that thing when we first came in. The exit is somewhere behind it though. That scientist sealed all the other doors and windows with that armored plating. It's the only way out."

Zack nodded. "There might be another way to get past him. But he might spot us. Its armor is too heavy for what we have. I wish I would have brought some pulse grenades or mines."

"Kade stood up. "Alright. I'm going to find a way to get behind him. With my tools I might be able to disable it from its maintenance panel. Think you can keep it distracted long enough?"

Zack was about to protest this plan, but didn't see any other way out of the situation. Zack nodded. "Be careful."

"I will." Kade stared into his eyes for a moment. She then turned and quickly sprinted down the corridor they were in to Zack's left.

Zack stood up with his back still to the wall. He raised his revolver up and took a few deep breaths. He ran out sideways across the opening of the hall and fired three rounds at the robot. The discharge of his gun echoed loudly in the hall. Two hit the torso and the other a leg. They appeared to do no real damage to it though and it raised its right arm up. Zack cleared the way and got behind cover of the other wall as rounds from its minigun pounded into the wall where he had run across.

"_Keep it distracted she asks. Easier said than done."_

_

* * *

_

- An Hour And Half Earlier

The past three nights of travel for Zack and Kade remained mostly uneventful. The only occurrence was a trio of young Jackal Rabbits that Zack had managed to scare off with a few blasts from his gun. They had traveled one more day north before finally heading more to the west towards New Vegas. They had gone through about a quarter of their food supplies, not finding much to scavenge or hunt along the way. The beginnings of dawn had just started showing itself across the landscape as they both entered the outskirts of the settlement of Aguila.

"I'm glad we are finally here. We were beginning to run really low on water." Kade said from Zack's right.

"Yes, hopefully they'll allow us admittance. I'd hate to -" Zack stopped speaking abruptly to pause in the road to consider the strange scene in front of him. Kade stopped as well and was about to question him but then she too saw what he was looking at. She stared with a confused expression on her face.

Coming down the road was a thin elderly man with long tangled gray hair wearing a wide tooth grin. Even from this distance, Zack could see that his teeth were yellow and quite decayed. He was riding on an old red painted bicycle. Zack had seen a couple when he was younger. The bike was dented in a few places and had no tires on it. The man was peddling quite hard to make the steel rims turn to carry him along. A man riding on a bike wasn't that out of the ordinary, not even in the wastes, what was strange was that he was completely naked from head to toe. In his right hand he held a small black pistol. Zack thought it was remarkable that the man was able to ride the bike with ease as his privates were exposed.

As the man on the bike got nearer, Kade hid herself partly behind Zack fearful of what this man might do. He stopped the bike when he was next to the both of them. There was awkward silence as the old man looked at them smiling with his bright blue eyes. His eyes, they seemed distant somehow.

"Um, hello." Zack said at last.

"Well howdy!" The man responded. He said it very loudly causing Kade to jump a little. "You didn't happen to see that thieving bastard did you? He just robbed the bank. He must have come down this way."

Confused, Zack answered. "No, didn't see anyone."

"Ah don't you worry none. My trusty steed and I will track him down." The man then pat the handle bars of the bike in front of him affectionately. "Do you know what I'm going to do when I find him?"

Zack shook his head.

The man raised his right arm up to show the gun in his hand. He then raised it up and placed it to the temple of his head. "This of course." He said it to both of them as if they were ignorant.

Before Zack could react or respond there was a loud bang. The elderly man had pulled the trigger causing the left side of his head to explode outwards. The man slumped forward crashing down with the bike intertwined in his legs.

Zack stepped backwards bumping into Kade hard causing her to stumble and fall to the ground. Zack immediately turned around helping her back up by grabbing her right hand.

"Sorry about that." He said

A look of shock was on her face and her mouth was open a bit as she stood back up. She shook her head a few times slowly and was silent a few moments. Zack could hear strained sounds coming from her mouth.

"Why did that man just do that? She asked.

Zack shrugged. "No idea, he didn't seem all there though. Come on, let's hurry and get into town before someone comes around and think we did this."

"Okay." She said softly, still starting at the elderly man's naked body as the contents of his head spilled out onto the dusty road.

All that remained of Aguila was the town's center. Apparently violent winds or other hazards had caused much of the surrounding buildings and homes to collapse or burn down. There was only one street which seemed to have buildings and that is where they both headed. Before the Great War they must have been shops, restaurants, and hotels. But now they were just shelter and refuge for anyone that decided to enter them. They were made from concrete by the looks of it, which was smoothed flat over the outside. All were painted in dull earthy colors and the largest one was three stories high. The town didn't look to have any power as all the building's windows were darkened. The sun hadn't quite risen fully yet.

As they walked further down the street Zack looked at different areas which would serve well for cover, but didn't see any kind of guards posted anywhere. The entire place was silent. Small creaks were heard from a metal door attached to a car that was partly up on the sidewalk. The wind was causing the door to move slightly back and forth. Zack began to question himself for deciding to come here. On the map this was a settlement the caravan had been to before, but perhaps it had been abandoned sometime ago. He hadn't looked elsewhere on the map for any nearby ones. They might not have enough water to make it to another location.

"Am I the only one that is a little freaked out?" Kade asked.

The ambiance of the town made it appear to be empty of people, but Zack couldn't shake the feeling that they were being watched.

"No, something isn't right here." Zack responded as he tried to look into the buildings for signs of life.

As a precaution he took out his revolver and held it at his side. He motioned to Kade to do the same. She took her laser pistol out and held it in front of her with both hands ready to bring it up quickly if need be.

They came to a large circular concrete fountain that was placed in the median of the road which intersected with another street perpendicular to it. There were many designs of flowers etched into it. The fountain had three levels with a faceless statue of a woman standing at the top holding some kind of jug with both her hands. The fountain was void of water though. The only company it had was an abundant amount of dirt that had filled the bottoms of it.

"Hello?" Zack called out loudly. He heard his voice echo as it entered alcoves and broken widowed buildings. Zack didn't realize this before, but scattered all around the town's center and from when they first entered, were small empty glass vials. Some had been crushed under his feet. He wondered what they could've held.

"There!" Kade exclaimed and pointed with her hand.

Zack look to where she pointed and saw two kids that had exited from a building, a girl and a boy. They both looked to be about eight or nine. Their hair was unkempt and their clothes were tattered and filthy. As Zack looked them over, he could see that their eyes held that same distant stare as the elderly man on the bike, almost as if the lights were on, but nobody was home. The kids made their way quickly across the street.

"Nice, Mr. Oliver left some candy." The boy said and picked up what looked like to be handful of gravel.

He took the small handful, placed it in his mouth, and began to chew on them. Right away Zack could see that it actually was gravel that he was eating. He could hear the crunching sounds as the rocks crushed against the boy's teeth. Blood began to escape the corners of his mouth.

"What flavor is it?" The girl now asked. "I want some!"

She reached out a hand to try and snatch some gravel for herself. The boy pulled his hand quickly away from her. He swallowed.

"Get your own bitch!" He yelled.

The girl immediately threw a punch which hit the boy in the face causing him to fall over. She jumped on top of him and began pounding him wildly with both her arms.

Zack and Kade had stood transfixed watching the commotion between to the two children. Kade stepped forward looking determined to help. Zack held her back and shook his head. Whatever was wrong with them, he didn't think that Kade would be willing to shoot a child if it attacked her. Kade had a look of protest, but eventually nodded in agreement.

After a moment, the girl got up and moved over to where more gravel was. She sat down and began popping small pieces into her mouth and chewing. The boy lay motionless, his face was bloodied.

"What's going on here?" Kade whispered to Zack. "First that man, now these kids."

"Don't know, but I suppose we should find out." He said.

Zack heard a voice calling out. He scanned further down the street and saw woman by a one story building waving her arms over her head to them. Once she knew Zack saw her, she began beckoning him over. She seemed more aware than the others they had encountered and didn't have that blank stare to her eyes.

"Maybe someone can answer some questions." Zack said and gestured to the woman. "Come on."

They sprinted hurriedly down the road towards the woman past the girl. Along the way they saw a man with short dark hair sitting on a bench next to the entrance of what looked like a café. His pants were down to his ankles. He was pleasuring himself with one hand while he stared up at the sky intently with his empty eyes and with his mouth slightly ajar. Zack heard a sound of disgust from Kade as they ran past. When they got to where the woman was she stood smiling at them. She short curly blond hair and was wearing beige shorts with a red shirt.

"Quick, inside." She said and she opened the door behind her.

Zack and Kade followed her into what was some kind of shop. The place was musty and quite dim. A random assortment of goods and items lined the shelves. Zack closed the door behind him and was about to speak, but Kade beat him to it.

"What the hell is the deal with this place?" She asked in a low voice.

The woman held her hands flatly together in front of her mouth with the thumbs under her chin. She looked like she was thinking of how to explain. After a moment she lowered them and sighed.

"My name is Christina, I hope you here to help." She said at last.

Zack and Kade looked questionably to her.

"We have to hurry though. He's going to come down here soon to dispense more of it." Christina said.

"More of what?" Zack asked.

"Why do you appear to be the only sane person in town?" Kade added.

"Okay, well I'll give you the short version." She walked towards a corner and pulled a metal folding chair outwards and sat on it. "We don't have a lot of time. Not too long ago a man moved into town, goes by the name of Dr. Skye. He said he was a scientist and that he was working on some kind of formula for a liquid that would make us immune to the effects of radiation. He went up to the college that is up a hill north of here and began to work in one of the science labs there. After awhile, he started to come into town to hand out samples in those little vials you see everywhere outside, saying that he had to view its effects firsthand to see how viable it was. I was the only one that didn't want to consume it. I pleaded with the others, but they wouldn't listen. He just didn't seem all that trustworthy so I declined."

Christine paused for a moment before continuing. "Only a few days passed and then people began to act weird. Not like they are now, but their moods changed slightly and they sometimes said things they normally wouldn't have, almost like they lost the filter to their mouths. They didn't seem to care that they their personalities were changing and that they were becoming more aggressive. They act like they are in some kind of dream or something. They're asleep but awake at the same time I guess. There's also some kind of addictive quality to the stuff. They can't get enough of it. Every time that he comes into town, the people just line up waiting for more that violet colored stuff. They mostly only go outdoors at night. Something with the way their eyes are now makes them sensitive to the light of the day. The ones you saw outside, they haven't used much of the stuff."

"This is horrible, what is the stuff, some kind of drug he plans to mass produce and sell?" Kade asked.

Christine shook her head. "I don't think he plans to sell it. Sometimes he tells the people to do things, commands it to them. He acts like they will obey him or something."

Kade look lost for words, so Zack stepped in.

"Why don't we have a lot of time Christine?" He asked.

Christine looked down the carpet on the floor. "He usually comes around eight in the morning, going door do door passing the stuff out. He always threatens me when he comes. He doesn't want me to interfere with his experiment in anyway. Keep calling me his "Control Group". I'm worried that he'll just do away with me eventually."

"And what exactly is it you want us to do?" Zack asked her.

"Well…I was hoping that you would…you know run him out of town or something. Force him to leave. Kill him if you have to. That is, if you want to."

"Of course we'll help you." Kade blurted out.

Zack turned his head towards Kade and stared at her a moment before turning back to Christine. "We can try to reason with him, but the way you described him sounds like he won't leave willingly."

"Anything will be better than what's happening to my fellow residents. I can pay you of course. Well, not with money, but you are free to take anything you want from my shop. We haven't gotten many visitors lately." Her voice trailed off near the end.

"We'll go, don't worry." Zack assured her. "I trust that if we leave some belongings here that you'll watch over them?"

Christine shook her head hurriedly. "Of course." She said.

Zack then began to take off his pack, canteen, and duster. He gestured to Kade to do the same. She took her main pack off and placed it on the ground.

"One moment." Christine said. Then she walked towards the back of the place and was rummaging through a box on the floor.

Zack whispered over to Kade. "I can go alone if you want Kade. You can remain here and wait till I return."

"No." She said quickly. "I want to see this bastard for myself. He has no right to do what he did."

"Okay. Just giving you the option." He said.

Christine came back over to the both of them. She held four frag grenades, two in each hand. "Here, take them. They might help. I know he keeps that school like a fortress."

"Go ahead Kade." Zack said.

Kade took them from Christine, placed two in her side bag, and the other two in pockets on each side of her jumpsuit.

"Thank you so much." Christine said. "I wouldn't know where to begin with him."

Zack walked towards the entrance, and then stopped. "We shouldn't be too long. Can you fill our water containers for us?" She nodded and Zack took out his water bladder from his pack and placed it by his canteen. Kade went through her bags and took out her plastic bottles.

"Thanks." Kade said. "Hey, is that a Pip-Boy?" She asked and pointed to a nearby shelf.

Christine looked. "Yeah, I don't think it functions fully though."

"Wow, I so want that." Kade smiled and began to walk towards it.

Zack grabbed her lightly by the arm. "Come on Kade, afterwards."

"Oh, alright." She said submissively.

Zack guided her out the door in front of him.

"Good luck." Christine called out to him.

Zack turned his head to the side. "Thanks. You never know, we might need it." He said and then went outside to meet up with Kade.


	26. Dream Fuel

August 26th, 2279

Zack let the heavy wooden door close behind him as he exited the store. He paused a moment to consider if the story that had been told to Kade and him held true merit. For all he knew Christina could be the mastermind behind the strange behaviors of the townspeople and was sending the both of them to their deaths by the claws and fangs of some hellish creature infested college. Or perhaps, it was a distraction while she took the time to sneak up behind and do them in unknowingly. Zack made a note to keep his guard up fully for any surprises that might come about.

"You plan on letting me do this alone Zack?" Kade called to him from the middle of the road.

Zack cleared his throat. "Yeah. Sorry. Was just thinking of how we should proceed." He then made his way alongside her. He pulled his revolver out inspecting to make sure it was loaded fully. Satisfied, he held the smooth wooden handle tightly within his right hand, ready to bring it up at a moments notice.

"You think we'll be attacked right off?" She asked.

"No clue, but it's better to be cautious."

Kade nodded and pulled her laser pistol from her makeshift holster.

They both made their way up a meandering road that led to the north eastern part of the town to the college. While walking from the store they had seen a small rusted sign barely hanging upside down onto a pole, written upon was Aguila Technical College with an arrow which had originally been pointing straight. The college consisted of several large buildings, the largest residing in the center. The central one was two stories with intricate designs etched along its walls. The windows were covered with some kind of metal plating securely fastened with bolts.

The design of the college was made of yellow stone with large columns supporting an outstretched covering over the entrance of the school. A wide set of stairs led up to two large doors on its front. The buildings on either side were considerably smaller than the main one, and both appeared to make unfavorable living quarters. The one on the right had no glass within its windows. Its outward stony surface was blackened by what looked like some past fire. The other was almost totally collapsed inwards.

Kade gave a low whistle after she took in the view of the college. Zack figured the main building was where the illusive Dr. Skye made his fortification. He quickly scanned the roof and other positions looking for lookouts or guardsmen. He didn't see either.

Zack sighed. "Well, shall we?" He asked without turning his head and began to walk carefully towards the first of the steps.

Kade's throat gave an inaudible sound, but she followed along behind him a few paces back.

They both walked up the thin stairs rapidly. Zack made sure to keep his eyes at the large doors in case an armed person was to appear. He could hear the exertion of breath from Kade and himself. There were far more stairs than what appeared at first glance. When they reached the top Zack kept his weapon outwards in front of him and with his left he gestured to Kade to move against the wall by the doors. She did. He went on the wall opposite of her and carefully placed his hand on a bronzed colored handle and pushed it open slowly. The hinges of the door creaked loudly inside the innards of the building, echoing violently off the walls. Zack face cringed while he fully opened it.

"_So much for the element of surprise." _He thought grimly.

He walked in slowly. It was very dim inside the school, the only light was pouring in from the open door behind him, as well as some old safety lights. They were the kind that would kick in when the main power would cut out. It took some time for his eyes to adjust to the darkness. Before him stood an entrance atrium which had an overlook from the second floor. Three halls jutted out from the atrium, one in front of him as well as to his right and left.

"Kade, come on in." He called over his shoulder. He heard her footsteps along the tiled floor. They then stopped abruptly behind him.

Kade gasped. "Um, Zack?" She asked.

Zack turned quickly ready to shoot. He looked to where her gaze was. In a corner by the entrance was a large silhouetted shape. Zack walked cautiously towards it and realized at once what it was. It was a military grade sentry robot painted a dark olive color. Its optical sensors shone on and off with a faded red color. Its large arms were hanging unmoving at its sides. Zack stepped immediately backwards worried that it might attack them at any moment. He had his revolver aimed towards the bulk of its mass, but he knew full well it wouldn't do much against its heavy armor.

"Move away from it slowly Kade." He whispered, moving back himself.

Kade didn't retreat at first, but continued to study the robot for a few moments.

"Kade!" Zack said with higher hushed voice.

"It's alright Zack. I think it's in some kind of standby mode. Perhaps recharging its power supply or running diagnostics."

"That may be, but come on. It doesn't do any good for us to linger. We need to find Dr. Skye." Zack said while looking behind them down the halls for any other surprises that might be lurking.

"Yeah, sorry." She moved away from the robot and turned looking down each of the three hallways. "Which way should we go?"

"If I had to guess, which I am, I'd say he'd take refuge near the central part of the building." He pointed towards the hall in front of him. "Christina mentioned a science lab. I'd say we look for one of those."

Kade nodded. She scanned the room and gave a sound of excitement. "Look, on the wall."

She walked quickly over towards a long wooden desk. She went around behind it and was looking at some framed object that hung on it. "It's a map!"

Zack quickly made his way over to it. It was hard to make out the lines of walls for the rooms of the building, but the lettering stood out very well. It appeared that there were two science labs, and both were on the second story. The staircase was near the end of the hall in front of them.

"Up we go." Zack said while starting down the hall. "Stay alert." He added.

Kade gave a quick nod.

Even walking slowly across the tiled floor, both their steps seemed to reverberate on all the walls around them. The atmosphere remained calm and still. It irritated Zack a bit. He'd rather hear the sounds of someone, something, just anything so he'd know that they weren't alone and where the danger would be coming from.

They neared the end of the central hall. Zack looked each direction quickly. He saw a marble stairway to his right. He went directly for it. He used his left hand for balance on the rail as he made his way up. Kade followed behind him, she seemed edgy and kept conversation to a minimum, which suited Zack just fine. He wanted to keep his full attention to the task at hand.

He reached the top and proceeded towards the labs. Directly above him were several broken crumbled ceiling tiles. Droplets of water were falling from the ceiling from unseen leaking pipe that created a melodic beat as they fell to the floor where a small puddle stood. They passed several empty classrooms and lecture halls on each side of the corridor, their doors were open. They went further along and Zack noticed a door on the right that was closed securely.

He went over to it pressing his ear to it. The door was made of some metal material and felt cool on his ear. Kade stood in front of him and she began to open her mouth to speak. Zack quickly brought his finger to his lips in a gesture of silence. She understood and waited patiently. Zack reach to a handle and slowly tried to turn it. It was stiff but it turned fully and he cracked the door open a bit.

Zack kept his voice in a low whisper. "Alright Kade, this must be it. Don't act unless absolutely necessary. I want to talk to him first, okay?"

"Got it." She responded quietly. Her voice held a trace of nervousness to it.

Zack pushed the door quickly open to the left while he aimed his heavy revolver in front of him. Both he and Kade stormed inside, ready for whatever was waiting for them. The room was just as dark as the rest of the college. The only light was that being emitted from several Bunsen burners on a few counters around the room as well as from a hanging single low wattage light bulb. There was a lot of glassware set up on the counters consisting of many different shapes and sizes. The majority of them were empty, but several had different amounts of liquid of different shades of color. In one corner there was a rack filled with about thirty or forty vials of what must be the drug that Christina spoke of. Labels were attached on the outside of them with small writing.

Zack was uneasy at first when nobody was directly in front of him. He was beginning to scan the rest of the room when he heard a voice to his right.

"Well, I was wondering when that bitch would finally get some poor bastards to do her bidding. I knew I should have taken care of her earlier." His voice boasted confidence.

Zack could only see the back of the man. He had dark straight medium length hair that fell just past his neck line. He was a tall lean man who wore some kind of stained white lab coat. He was behind one of the counters. Zack couldn't see his hands. They could be working with the strange concoction, or very well be grabbing some hidden weapon.

"We're here to shut you're little drug factory down Dr. Skye. Turn around." Zack commanded. "Slowly."

"Or else what? Are you going to shoot me?" He asked coldly.

Zack thumbed the hammer of his revolver back. He was sure the man heard it sound from where he stood.

"If it comes to that." Zack said.

From his peripheral, Zack could see Kade was holding her laser pistol uneasy in front of her. Her head was tilted looking to his face questionably to what he would do next.

"I'd have to advise you highly against it. The chemicals and compounds that I use to experiment and create with, over time have found themselves absorbed by any item in here. Also traces remain in the air."

"So?" Zack asked unknowing of what Dr. Skye was referring to.

"So," He responded contemptuously, "I use a wide variety of chemicals, sometimes having to break them down to base properties, and some of the elements are quite unstable, as well as explosive. If you have half a brain, you'd think greatly over pulling that trigger. You'd cause us all to die in a fiery inferno."

Zack swore under his breath. He felt a trickle of sweat that flowed down his cheek to his jaw. He moved his eyes widely around the room trying to contemplate if Dr. Skye was bluffing.

"Kade?" Zack asked without moving his head. He could see her shrug slightly and she lowered her weapon and returned it to her holster.

"Sounds feasible." She said.

Zack kept his weapon on the man, its weight was beginning to cause him some strain to keep it level. He decided it best to keep the man talking while he thought of what to do.

"What the hell are you testing on these people? What are you trying to accomplish?" Zack asked.

Dr. Skye scoffed. Zack could hear the clanking of glass instruments. The man turned around. His skin tone was pale. The wrinkles throughout it made him look to be perhaps in his mid-forties. He had a neatly trimmed beard that had a bit of grey to it. Underneath the lab coat were blue jeans and a dirty red button up shirt. The circles under his eyes made it appear he didn't sleep much. He probably spent most of his time working maliciously at his project, ignoring rest.

"I wouldn't want to bore someone as ignorant looking as you with the details. Not like a simple mind would understand what I'm trying to do." He reached up and stroked his beard with his left hand. He didn't seem phased at all by the weapon in Zack's hand.

"Try me." Zack shot back quickly.

Dr. Skye studied Zack's face with his piercing grey eyes sizing him up. "Alright then, if you insist. Maybe then you'll leave me in peace. I have developed a beautiful formula, that I named Dream Fuel. When taken orally, said formula allows a person's mind to exist in two places. The subject falls into a dream like trance, they believe they are sleeping, and the actions that they do in the actual world are visualized different in their mind's eye. They feel no pain, have absolutely no inhibitions, and are none the wiser about what is happening to them."

Disgusted, Zack thought of another question. "And how does that help you exactly?"

The muscle in Zack's forearm was burning from keeping the gun in the same position for so long. He wouldn't be able to hold out forever. Dr. Skye gave a short laugh before answering.

"The only way to build an army without recruiting is through force. And where I lack brute strength, I make up by attacking the mind. You see, in this state they are very open to suggestion. Once I get the variation of Dream Fuel perfect, I will have those poor saps of the town obey my every command." He began to pace back and forth behind the counter with his chin raised upwards.

"Once that is done, I will venture outwards, to other settlements and towns to do the same thing. Once I have a large enough army, no one will be able to stand in my way as I reclaim this battered land. I will rule as a mighty emperor and bring back order." He paused looking towards Zack as if waiting for applause.

Zack lowered his arm pointing the end of his gun towards the ground. He figured that it would be too risky to discharge his weapon which might cost them all their lives. He planned to wait till the Dr.'s attention was focused elsewhere and then he would rush the man. Zack was about to say something else, but Kade beat him to it.

"That's just sick." She spoke in a low monotone voice. "You gave that shit to the kids as well. They're innocent in all of this. They would be of little use to you in this grand army you speak of. I saw a little girl injure another child over nothing out there. It might've been her brother. You had no right to do any of this, to any of them."

A malicious smile crossed Dr. Skye's mouth and he shook his head slowly. "My dear, the children were instrumental in my experiment. Such young unformed minds are easily corruptible. They aren't as innocent as you think they are. They will be my future soldiers and servants."

With his attention on Kade, Zack thought this was his best chance and he was about to launch his attack. But before he could take two steps, Dr. Skye hands quickly reached behind the counter pulling out a strange gun like contraption aiming towards Zack. It looked similar to a shotgun, wooden handle, long steel barrel, and some kind of drum assembly. The opening on the barrel looked to have an inch and a half diameter to it. Ttoo large to a shot gun.

"Don't even think about it." He said. His teeth glinted in the dim light.

Kade swore from behind Zack.

"And the part about blowing us all to hell and beyond?" Zack said through gritted teeth.

"Now please, I'm no liar. This here is a nifty little thing that doesn't discharge bullets. I bought this off some traders awhile back. It uses the power of steam to fire very large railway spikes. At this range I would be able to attach your neck to the door back there, no problem. Would leave a nasty little mess but you'd be outta my hair. Now, you have done no wrong to me yet, so I suggest you leave while you can, but Christina will have to die I'm afraid."

Zack stood unmoving glaring at Dr. Skye. Kade came up behind him placing her hands gently on the sides of his arms.

"Zack, come on. We can't do anything more." She said softly.

"What?" Zack turned around confused.

"Please?" Her face conveyed eagerness and her eyes were flickering down and up.

Zack looked down. In each of her hands she held a frag grenade. He smiled and winked at her. He replaced the smile with a more serious face and turned back around to face Dr. Skye.

"Alright, we'll leave. We won't bother you again." Zack said and placed his revolver away.

"Good, I can see who wear's the pants in the family. Now get out of here before I change my mind."

Zack walked out of the room first. He wouldn't call himself a religious man, but he said a small prayer in his mind that they'd make it out of here alive.

Kade followed closely behind him. She inserted each of her thumbs through the rings of the grenades and pulled them out. She held her fingers firmly closed keeping the safety lever's in place till she was almost out of the room. She then thrust her hands backwards releasing the grenades. She was already out of the room sprinting down the hall as they landed and tumbled across the floor.

"What the hell was that?" Zack heard asked loudly from inside the room.

He grabbed onto Kade's arm and ran along side her. As they neared the staircase, Zack's foot slipped in the puddle of water that had been accumulating. He had put it out of his mind earlier. He fell backwards landing hard on his back and grunted loudly.

From down the hall a huge sound erupted shaking the building's walls and ground around them. Kade had managed to keep her balance when Zack had fell down, but after the explosion, she fell down more out of reaction than from force.

Zack got up on is knees and looked behind him. Smoke was billowing out from the room and flames were beginning to crawl out from the now open doorway igniting the wallpaper. He stood fully and helped Kade get up.

"Come on!" He said as he began to trotter down the steps.

* * *

Present Time

Without exposing his entire body Zack aimed down the hall and fired the remaining three rounds blindly down the hall. There was harmless return fire that pelted into the wall. Zack quickly reloaded and was going to shoot blindly again, but stopped himself. He didn't know when Kade would appear at the other end. She might get hit by his wild firing. He couldn't just sit there and hope that the robot would continue downwards either. It might ignore him entirely if it heard Kade trying to sneak up on it.

Zack reached for his necklace through his shirt holding it a moment before he rushed across the hall again. He fired four times upwards at the ceiling making sure the rounds didn't go past the robot before making it to the other side. There were a few more bursts of return fire. Zack saw that the sentry bot was slowly progressing down the hall towards him.

"Come get me you overgrown rust bucket." Zack cried out at the top of his lungs.

He peered around the corner and saw a silhouette behind the robot. It was moving slowly towards it.

"_Kade."_

Zack ran out again firing two more rounds at the ceiling. He didn't make it completely to the other side. A missile had been fired towards the path he was running. Zack quickly halted and fell to the ground sliding a bit as the missile exploded where he would have been. He covered his face as shrapnel and fragments flew towards him. The wind was totally knocked out of him. He lay motionlessly on the ground trying to regain his breath. He turned his head slowly to the side and saw that the sentry bot was beginning to wheel itself around towards where Kade surely was.

"_No!"_

Before it could finish its turn, the top part of its body blew outwards in a brilliant orange and blue flash. It caused Zack to close his eyes from the surprise brightness. When he reopened them he saw Kade above him reaching down the help him up. Her mouth was forming words, but an overpowering ringing was only thing in his ears. Luckily he still grasped his revolver. He moved aside his duster to put it away. His left leg had a sharp shooting pain in it. Kade guided him past the now useless robot. Its head was nowhere to be seen. The right side of its torso and arm was completely resting on the floor and small white embers still burned at its core.

Kade opened the other door and they both walked out. Zack almost tripped as he made his way down the stairs, but finally they were away from the burning building. They both collapsed to the barren ground on their backs. Zack was sore all over. Even his teeth even seemed to hurt. But at least the ringing was fading from his ears. He turned his head to look at Kade.

"Hey." He said with a wheezing breath. "Got that bot I see."

"Yep." She responded.

"And you destroyed another perfectly standing building as well."

She beamed at him.

Zack returned the smile with one of his own. They then both broke into laughter as they lay there watching the college burn in front of them. Thick black smoke rose high in the sky towards the cloudless sky.

* * *

**A/N: Sorry my updates have been a little slow. Some other things have been stealing my attention the past few weeks. I should be updating more regularly from now on. **


	27. Back To Reality

August 26th, 2279

While lying on the ground, Zack had closed his eyes to rest a moment from all the excitement that had occurred in the past few hours. At the moment, the entire second floor of the college was engulfed with flames. The materials inside was what was burning, the stone structure merely blackened like one of its side buildings had been. There were a few other internal explosions that were heard from within the school. Zack figured that Dr. Skye must have been storing chemicals somewhere else in the school, perhaps in the other science lab that they didn't find. Without trying or wanting to, he fell into a light sleep. They had been traveling most of the night and it was almost about the time when they would have set up camp to sleep still dusk.

Zack was startled awake by the sound of Kade speaking. At first he couldn't discern what she was saying until he opened his eyes and focused on her voice. Kade was standing over him on his left side. She held her hand on her brow blocking the sun from her eyes. Her face was full of concern.

"Did you hear what I said Zack?" She asked him. "You're bleeding from your leg." She pointed down with her other hand.

Zack remembered that his leg was bothering him on their escape from the college, and he required the aid of Kade to get out. Zack sat up slowly and propped himself up an arm while he looked to where she pointed. He moved the end of his duster aside to get a better look. On the side of his thigh on the ground he could see a small amount of blood that had combined with dirt and congealed. Looking to his leg, he saw a good sized jagged piece of metal about the size of his index finger poking out of his charcoal colored pants. It had ripped through with relative ease. It was of the same color as the sentry bot was painted. He figured when the thing exploded he must been in the path of flying shrapnel. He was fortunate that only one piece had struck one of his legs. Multiple shards could have easily struck him all over. One might've even been fatal.

"Yeah. Looks like I picked up a little souvenir from our robotic friend." Zack said. He winced a little while he moved his hand and different parts around the wound to see if there was sill feeling to it.

Now seeing what caused the wound, Kade squatted down next to him looking worried.

"Should I pull it out?" She asked and moved her hand towards it.

"No don't." Zack said quickly, a little more stern than he meant to.

Kade immediately pulled her hand away as if his leg had magically grown teeth and had tried to bite her.

"Sorry." Zack said. "I didn't mean for it to come out like that. It's just that I don't have my pack with me. It has all my medical supplies in it. If we pull that that thing out and have nothing to stop the bleeding with, you might as well be going to New Vegas on your own."

"Oh right. Forgive me for being such an idiot." She said softly and stared down to the ground. Her hair fell slightly to block her face from view to Zack.

"Hey." Zack said.

He moved his left hand to her face. He placed it under her chin and lifted her head up so her green eyes met his.

Zack let out an exhausted breath. "Trust me when I say this Kade. You're just about the smartest person I've met in a long time." He gave her a reassuring smile.

A faint smile appeared on her face. "You're too kind Zack. I'm nothing great." She said.

Zack brought his hand back and placed it back on the ground to support his raised body. "You don't give yourself enough credit. Not just anyone would be able to disable a sentry bot. Most would just need a lot of fire power to take one down and would need more people to help out."

"Alright I guess I can give you that." She said.

"And, you've saved my life twice already, even if you had to do some remodeling to do it."

Kade snorted. "Well you saved my life first. You also helped me out at Cherry Cliff, when I wasn't myself. I say we're even then." She stood up and stretched her arms outwards. "I am a bit rough on buildings aren't I?"

"Yeah, remind me not to invite over you to dinner. We'd have to eat outside." Zack said with a laugh.

Her smile grew wider. "Speaking of which, I'm starving." She said.

Feeling blasting heat on his face from the warm day, Zack wiped some sweat from his forehead with the back of his hand. "So am I. Come on. Let's get back to town. I'm going to need to some help though. I don't have much motion with my leg at the moment. Think you can help?"

Kade nodded. "Sure thing."

Kade helped Zack to his feet. He tested his leg by putting some weight on it. He groaned when he did so. He could feel slight trickles of blood flowing down past his knee. Kade supported his larger heavier frame as best as she could by being on his left side with his arm hung over her shoulder. They began walking carefully together towards the road.

"I wanted to ask you about that robot." Zack said when they were almost to the road. "I thought when you said you would disable it that it would just turn off or something. Not that it would explode."

"Yeah, making it explode wasn't what I had in mind. I was able to open the maintenance hatch no problem, I believe it had some anti tampering program installed. I think it just sort of self destructed."

"Bummer, we could have probably sold it to Christina." He said with a chuckle.

They slowly made their down the winding road back to the main part of the town where Christina's shop resided.

When they got to the entrance of it, they both saw that the door was standing open. The streets were void of anything and no sounds could be heard from inside the shop. Both added together made Zack feel uneasy. He unwrapped his arm off of Kade's shoulder and propped himself against the wall. He couldn't remember if he had reloaded his revolver or not.

"I don't like this." Kade said looking towards Zack for instruction.

Zack kept his voice low. "Kade, take your gun out and see if Christina or anyone else is inside. Go slowly and be careful. Call out immediately if you need assistance."

"Okay." She responded while nodding at the same time.

She took a few deep breaths and pulled out her laser pistol. She held it out in front of her and went inside.

Zack could hear her footsteps as she progressed further into it. Straining, with one hand he took out his revolver. Sure enough, he had used all the rounds in it. He took the empty casings out and reached for more on his holster. When he reached down to his holster he swore. The ammunition was running low. He made a mental note to acquire more as soon as possible. Once it was reloaded he moved the revolver's cylinder back into place and held the gun at his side.

After he was finished he focused on the inside of the store. He couldn't hear Kade's steps anymore. Worried, he hobbled over to the doorway to glance inside. He didn't see her anywhere. Just as he was about to enter inside to investigate himself, she appeared from the backroom. She had put her pistol away. She paused by the counter looking confused.

"She's not here." She said.

Zack looked more carefully around the room. Their packs were still were still where they left them. Their containers were full of water sitting nearby. Zack lifted his hand to his mouth to cover a yawn. He was very tired. The loss of blood might be making him sleepier. There didn't seem to be any evidence of a struggle or blood throughout the store. Zack could only imagine what could've happened to her. Some of the residents might have come and took her somewhere. Or maybe once she heard the explosion at the college and took them for dead. She might have just gone about her daily business.

Zack heard rustling behind him. Forgetting about his wounded leg, he turned around quickly with his gun in hand to the oncoming threat. He let out a small cry of agony as he used his left leg to move and fell on his back to the wooden floor before he could fully complete the turn. His leg burned with pain. He was breathing rapidly. He aimed his gun unsteadily upwards to a person in front of him. It was Christina.

"Whoa don't shoot!" She said quickly with her hands raised in front of her body.

Zack let out a long sigh of relief. He lowered his gun letting its handle rest on the floor. He gave a small laugh and remained on the floor. He was too weak to get up himself.

He smiled up to her. "You scared the crap out of us." Zack said. "Well at least me anyways."

Christina looked down to him apologetically. "Sorry, I didn't mean to."

Kade walked over to Zack and with a strained face she helped him back to his feet. He thanked her. He then placed his revolver away while balancing on her.

"Where did you go?" Kade said with a hint of anger to her voice. "Did you know you left your door wide open? We thought the worst."

Christina closed the door behind her. She had some kind of small bag over her shoulder.

"Yeah, that stupid door doesn't stay shut sometimes. I don't have a key for it or else I'd lock it up." Christina said.

"Where were you?" Zack cut in.

Christina walked past scraping a shelf a bit with an arm and made her way to the counter. Kade and Zack turned together to follow her movement. She placed the small bag upon the counter and turned back around to face them.

"After you left I went to get water for you. I brought it back and waited for a bit. I was half expecting Dr. Skye to come down here saying how he killed the both of you that he knew I asked you to go do it. I figured he'd do me in after that."

She paused a moment to and sighed. "Once I saw smoke billowing from into the sky in the direction of the school, I'd figured that you did it. I was extremely pleased. I wasn't too sure if you would be coming back though. I had to keep myself busy. So I gathered some food and went around trying to get people to eat. You see, they usually forget to eat on their own while they are high off that junk he'd give them. I finished and came back here and found the both of you here."

"Makes sense." Zack said.

"Did you…have to…kill him?" She asked.

"He didn't leave us much a choice." Zack said.

"I see." She said softly.

Christina glanced down to his leg and saw the piece of metal jutting from it. Her face scrunched up.

"I'm sorry you got hurt. Is it painful?" She asked him.

"I'll manage." He responded.

"Um, you don't know a place here where we can rest for a bit and take care of this wound do you?" Kade asked politely.

Christina smiled. "Sure thing. I'd be happy to have you stay here actually. In the backroom there is a wood stove and a bed where the both of you can sleep. The bed is a bit small, but the two of look like you'd be fine nestled up next to each other."

Shocked by what she said, Zack began to mumble something incoherent.

Hearing Zack's muttering Kade jumped in to help. "We aren't together like that." She said. "We're just friends traveling together."

"Uh huh." Christina said and rolled eyes. "Could've fooled me." She added with a sly smile.

Kade gave a small laugh. "Thank you for the hospitality Christina. We'll be fine. But where will you sleep?" She asked.

"Don't' worry. I have some friends here that won't mind me intruding. I want to be close to them anyways to help them come back into reality." Christina nodded. "Oh, don't forget your payment. Any item you'd like here. Both of you I mean can choose something."

Zack finally found his words. "We will thanks. I want to get this leg taken care of first."

"Sure." She responded. I have some other things I have to take care of. Hopefully now that he won't be distributing those vials anymore, that the people will return to themselves." She lowered her eyebrows and paused. "I hope they don't go through withdraw or anything like that."

"Only time will tell." Zack said.

"Right. Well I'll be back later. Thanks again for what you did. Feel free to stay as long as you'd like." She said while walking past them and leaving the store.

"Come on Zack, let's get you fixed up." Kade said.

She helped him to the back room. It was a lot smaller than the business part of the building. It had a smudged square window against a wall. A raggedy looking shade was present. It was pulled half way down, allowing a stream of coppery light to flow into the room. A large oval teal rug filled the center of the floor. There was a small brown dresser under the window with a small silver circular mirror resting on the top along with several candles. A small bed frame was set into the corner. Two stained maroon pillows were at the head and green sheets covered it. Christina was right; it would have been a tight fit for the both of them. A decent sized black stove sat against another wall. A long pipe was attached that lead up to through the ceiling. Next to it was a stack of wood of various sizes. There was another door in the room as well. It looked to lead to a bathroom.

Zack let go of Kade and he plopped down on the bed. The mattress sagged a bit under his weight. The springs must have been worn out long ago.

"I'm going to go get our things. I'll be right back." Kade said and left the room.

While she was gone Zack took off his gloves, duster, head wrap, goggles, and holster. He organized them on the bed to his right. He then reached down and took off his boots and slid them under the bed. He grabbed one of the pillows and placed it against the wall and laid his head on it while his feet remained over the edge on the floor. He closed his eyes and almost fell asleep.

Kade returned a few moments later, her arms were full of their packs. Zack reopened his eyes and watched her. She emptied the contents of her arms gently on the floor and then proceeded to take her mechanic's gloves off. She tossed them on the bed next to Zack's things. She then brought her hand to her chest and unzipped the top part of her jumpsuit down to her waist. She pulled her arms out from the sleeves, exposing the small white tank top that she wore underneath. She pulled down the upper part of the jumpsuit behind her so the bulk of it remained at her waist.

"A bit warm in here isn't it?" She said.

While trying his best not to let his eyes wander to explore the curves of her upper body, Zack merely nodded before finding something to say.

"Could try to open the window perhaps?" He suggested.

Kade walked over to it and brought her hands to it feeling around the edges. Zack sat up and reached for his pack which was nearby his feet. He opened the middle compartment up to pull out his container of medical supplies. He also pulled out the spare shirt he kept in the main compartment. He then placed his bag down again. Kade turned around with a look of defeat on her face.

"Stupid thing doesn't open I guess. Oh well." She said waving the back of her hand at it.

Looking to Zack's leg, Kade sat gently down next to Zack taking special care not to bump into the metal protruding outwards.

"Will you need help with it?" She asked.

Zack took a deep breath. "Yes I will need your help. I really want to save these pants though. Cutting them off to tend the wound would leave them useless. Do you have any kind of cutting tool that can shorten the metal so I can take my pants off without ripping them?" He asked.

"Yeah." Kade nodded.

She grabbed her small messenger bag and pulled out blue handled wire cutters.

"Will these work?" She asked him.

"Yeah, they should be good. Can you do it for me? Just cut it down to about three quarters of an inch." He told her.

"Alright." She said a little uneasy.

Kade carefully held the piece of metal with one hand and used the other to hold the wire cutters. It took several cuts to get it completely off. Zack winced a few times as the piece moved around and dug into the muscle in his leg.

"Sorry." She said as she took the now removed piece in her hand. She set it and the wire cutters next to her.

"No worries." Zack responded. "Now, we'll need um…needle nose pliers if you have them."

"I do." She said at once and began to rummage through her bag again.

Zack began to undo his belt and shift his pants downwards. He took special care to make sure the pants wouldn't get caught on the remaining metal.

Placing the pliers next to her and seeing what Zack was doing she spoke nervously. "Uh, do you want me to leave the room for this part?" She asked.

"I'm fine if you are. I do wear underwear." He said with a laugh.

Kade helped him pull down his pants down to his feet and took them off completely. The boxers that Zack wore had also been penetrated by the metal. Zack lifted them over and pulled them up a bit. The side of his leg was caked in streams of dried blood. Kade looked a little queasy.

"Least it stopped bleeding." Zack said. "Can you check the store for any alcohol or some disinfectant? Or perhaps the bathroom?"

"Of course." She said and got up.

She went into the bathroom first, but came up empty handed. She then proceeded towards the store.

Zack lifted his leg up a little, folded his spare shirt, and placed it underneath his leg. Once the metal came out, he might bleed some. He didn't want to ruin Christina's sheets and mattress.

Kade came back carrying a clear bottle of what looked like vodka.

"It's all I could find." She said.

"It'll do. Now come back over here." He said.

She sat back down next to him but kept her eyes from the leg.

"I'm going to need you to pull it out while I quickly clean it from any other debris that might be in here. I'm most likely will have to suture it closed as well. I should be able to manage from the pain. Think you can do that?" He smiled to her.

"Yeah…I can." She said at last.

She gripped the pliers in her hand and slowly pulled the metal object from him. A small spurt of blood gushed out along with it that trailed down to his spare shirt. From the blood on metal piece, it looked to have gone in about almost two inches into his leg. Zack was glad that it didn't hit any arteries. Quickly he poured a good amount of alcohol onto it. He gasped a few times as the liquid sterilized the wound. With some gauze wrapped over his finger he gently poked around and inside to clear any dirt or fragments of metal that remained. Kade watch in astonishment as he worked on himself.

"Kade can you go into the side of my pack and get my lighter?" He asked her through gritted teeth.

Kade retrieved the lighter and held it to him, but he shook his head. With his free hand he passed her the open plastic container.

"I'm going to need you to thread one of the needles in there, and then sterilize it with the lighter." He saw the look on her face. "I'm up to sewing it closed my self though, don't worry." He said.

She nodded. She had some difficulty threading it. It seemed obvious that she hadn't sewn much in her life. But finally she managed to do it. She was just finishing sterilizing the needle as Zack felt satisfied with the now clean wound. It wasn't bleeding all too much anymore. He threw the bloodied gauze to the ground and took the needle from Kade. He placed one hand around the wound, squeezing a bit to bring the skin together. He was about to insert the needle when he looked to Kade. Her green eyes were focused on his hands. Some of the color of her face had faded away.

Zack smiled. "Kade, why don't you get that stove lit and get some of our food cooking on it. I don't think you need to watch me do this. I'll be alright."

"Okay, sounds like a good idea." She said. Her eyes were still focused a moment on his hands.

Finally she got up with the lighter in hand and made her way over to the stove. She opened its door and began to place small pieces of wood that she grabbed from the pile. She placed them inside in a standing arrangement.

Zack took a deep breath and inserted the needle for the first of what would be quite a few times into the skin by the wound. He grimaced. The hand not holding the needle shook a bit. He finished the first half of it while Kade got the beginnings of a fire going in the cooking stove. She prodded at it with a stick in one hand, causing it to grow. She stared intently into the flames, not wanting to turn to watch as Zack patched himself up. He couldn't blame her for not wanting to.


	28. Under The Weather

August 30th, 2279

Zack had originally only wanted to stay at Christina's store for the duration of one day to rest up and then began their way onto New Vegas again. One day however, quickly turned into four as Zack had begun to develop a fever after a few hours upon finishing tending to his injury. His head had begun to swim with fogginess as well. Kade blamed herself for her cooking, which Zack had thought to have been a very enjoyable meal. But she kept pushing on about not boiling the water long enough. Zack assured her it wasn't her fault.

The suturing of the wound had gone well. It was unlikely that it would get infected. Zack had placed a tight dressing over it, but he must have gotten sick from either one of the numerous airborne bacteria or just from pure exhaustion from the past couple of weeks. Either way, he thought it best not to push himself. Becoming sick in the wastes was a fearful thing due to the lack of doctors and antibiotics. Zack figured it wasn't too serious though, no coughing involved, yet. He was still young and had a strong immune system.

While still able to move around, he asked Christina if she wouldn't mind if they were a burden a bit longer and stay a few days more. At least until he got the sickness in check. She agreed immediately, saying that it was nothing to what they had done for her. She even brought them a small amount of food. Much to Zack's surprise, it wasn't a bunch of pre-war food, but actually garden grown food. There was also a small package of meat which Zack determined must be Brahmin. He thanked her for it and gave them to Kade for safe keeping while he readied himself to battle the sickness with sleep.

The next few days were a bit fuzzy for Zack. He only remembered bits and pieces of it. Kade had taken the floor to sleep on, setting up her bedroll and giving Zack the bed so he could sleep comfortably. He stripped his shirt off, leaving him only in his boxers while he rested. Kade had stared curiously at his mother's ring that hung from the silver chain down on his upper chest. It looked like she really wanted to ask about it, but then thought better of it and allowed him to rest instead. As he slept he could feel his body sweating out toxins that had been accumulated the past couple of weeks. Kade would wake him every so often to offer him food and drink. She made mostly makeshift soups, combining lots of different ingredients together. The warmness of them made him feel somewhat better. Also, Kade had to help him to reach the bathroom a few times each day. She didn't seem to mind though, even when he had to vomit a few times. She remained and helped him clean up.

Zack would come out of rest sometimes and gaze around the room in a stupor. A couple of times when he did this, Kade would come over and place a wet cloth over his brow. Other times when he awoke he saw her sitting with her back against the wall writing in her journal. She was so focused on it she did not realize he was awake. She scribbled away furiously filling multiple pages in no time. Another time he awoke, he heard Kade and Christina speaking in the next room. They talked about a wide range of topics. Kade spoke immensely of her home in Dedge and how the elderly couple that had raised her treated her so well, like a child of their own. Zack usually fell back so sleep quickly once realizing where he was and why he was there. He tried his best to be patient while his body fought the sickness.

On Saturday the thirtieth, Zack awoke feeling great. His head was clear and he wasn't profusely sweating anymore. The sheet he used hung somewhat loosely off the side of the bed. The rest of it covered his lower body leaving his top exposed. Zack exhaled and sat up. He rubbed at his eyes for a moment and then stretched his arms above his head. He turned his head to see Kade sitting on the floor on her bedroll cross legged with a maroon towel in front of her. She had pulled her jumpsuit back on over her upper body and had the sleeves rolled back to her forearms. She was shoeless. Her socks were of mismatched color. On the towel were different parts and pieces to some larger technological object. There were wires, capacitors, and circuit boards, among other things. The items were arrayed in some specific way that Zack couldn't decipher by looking at a distance. He finally decided that she had arranged them in a way so she could put them all back together with ease.

Kade, in one hand was holding a screwdriver, and in the other a bulky metal object that had a darkened screen and several knobs on it. The object was opened, half of it resting next to its counter part on hinges. Kade was looking at the back side of it fumbling with the screwdriver. She had almost gutted the entire thing. Zack felt a smile form on his face. He was glad that she had been able to keep herself busy while he slept most of the time.

"I take it that's the Pip-Boy?" He asked her.

Startled, Kade looked up to him. "Oh, sorry Zack, I didn't realize you were awake. I guess I was caught up in disassembling this thing." She brought her hand up a bit showing him. "It's turning out to be a bit of a pain in the ass though."

Zack moved his body over, planting his feet on the floor. His lifted the sheet to check his leg. A fresh bandage had been placed over the wound, there was no blood seeping through. He figured Kade must have done it while he slept, he was grateful. He lowered the sheet keeping his lower half covered.

"I see." He responded smiling wider.

Zack looked around for his clothes. He felt slightly exposed with Kade present. It was a silly thought though. She had seen plenty of him the past few days when he needed the assistance. Zack looked over to the window and took notice of amber light entering the room. His internal clock told him it was sometime in the mid afternoon. They could move out later tonight if circumstances allowed. He finally located his navy colored shirt at the foot of the bed and proceeded to place it over his head while Kade continued on.

"I've only heard about them, never actually have seen one physically till now, only a few sketches of a crude blueprint that some trader had one time with information written upon it. It's actually really neat though. It's almost on par with a regular computer."

Kade set the screwdriver down, took a small machine threaded screw from inside the Pip-Boy and placed on the towel in front of her. She brought the back of her hand to her forehead to wipe a few beads of sweat that had accumulated there. She then gave more information about the device.

"A serial number on the back shows this to be a 3000 model. I pretty sure this is supposed to be one of the more advanced models available. I think P.I.P was supposed stand for private information program. No wait, personal information processor, that's it."

Kade looked from the Pip-Boy up to him. She gave a small frown.

"You probably don't want to hear about all this tech gibberish." She said.

Zack chuckled and patted his hand down next to him on the bed to gesture her over.

"What can this more advanced model do?" He asked

Kade's eyes glittered and her frown was immediately replaced with a wide smile. She got up and plopped herself on the bed next to him with the Pip-Boy still in hand. She turned it over a few times giving Zack a closer look.

"Well, once assigned to someone, it will keep loads of information for them and about them. It will also integrate the person physically and will show vitals when needed. It can tell you your heart rate, radiation, and dehydration levels. It will keep the date and time accurately. Also, usually depending on what area they were originally designed for, they will have detailed maps installed on it. The user is able to add locations on the map such as settlements, dangers, and caches for later scavenging. They can also transfer data from and to holodisks with relative ease."

Kade placed the Pip-Boy on her lap and fumbled with a few of the knobs on its front.

"It has a built in radio transceiver which can pick up local transmissions or heavily boosted ones, which might come in handy eventually. For its power source it uses and alternator to charge its core by absorbing small amounts of energy from the wearer's body."

"Sounds impressive." Zack said. He turned to her and lifted an eyebrow. "Does it work?"

Kade scrunched up her face some. "At the moment, no. It has a few burnt out capacitors and I think the motherboard needs to be re soldered in a few places. Some connections have been knocked loose. Overall though, it's in pretty good shape."

Zack nodded. He reached up and scratched at the three day's growth of stubble on his cheek. "We might be able to find the means to repair it along the way." He said with enthusiasm.

Zack wasn't too tech savvy and didn't comprehend everything she was talking about. Still, he wanted her to know that he had an interest for her passions.

"I hope so." She said. "I have a few ideas to upgrade it as well."

"Upgrade it? How so?" Zack asked her.

Kade explained. "I want to find a way to be able to hardwire it easy to computer systems so I will be able to hack them with more speed and be able to upload and download information from them. Another idea I had was to add motion sensing capability to it, similar to radar in a sense."

"How will you manage that one?"

"Well, I destroyed that sentry bot almost entirely, so the parts I would need would be useless from it. The more advanced models of robots have built in motion sensors to help them track and kill. If we come across another one though, preferably inactive, I can extract the sensors and figure out how to apply them to the Pip-Boy. It will take many hours of configuration and tweaking to get the accuracy of distances and heights correct, but it will be worth it when it's fully optimized."

"Wow." Was all Zack could manage to say. With that capability it would be most invaluable.

Kade placed the palms of her hands on the bed on each side of her. She looked to Zack and sighed.

"So, you feeling any better? And how's the leg?" She asked.

"I think the sickness has passed. I always take being healthy for granted." He said.

Zack then lifted his left leg outwards in front of him. There was some soreness around the wound as the muscles extended and contracted in his thigh. He then stood up and slowly put weight on it. He walked around the room some, taking care not to mess up the small items that Kade had organized atop the towel on the floor. There was some discomfort as he moved about, but it would be manageable.

He turned around to face Kade. "Everything seems good. Will have to change the bandage periodically and clean it as well for the next couple of weeks. Now I just have to figure out where we're going next."

Kade snorted, cupped a hand over mouth and laughed a bit.

"What?" Zack asked innocently.

Kade shook her head. "Sorry. It's just a little hard to take you serious while you're walking around with no pants on."

Kade flicked her eyes downward and quickly brought them back up again to his eyes. Zack blushed. He had totally forgotten what he was wearing, or lack there of, when he got up from the bed to stroll around the room.

"Uh, right. First order of business, finding my pants." He said.

Zack located his pants and finished dressing. He grabbed his bathroom kit from his pack and entered the bathroom, closing the door behind him. While Zack was in there, Kade busied herself by reassembling the Pip-Boy, leaving out the non working components.

Zack relieved himself and proceeded to the mirror to take in his appearance. His face was dirtied up a bit and the stubble on his face was more than he liked to have. He turned on the faucet of the sink, cupped his hands to fill with water, and he splashed it across his face and the top of his close cut hair. The water felt refreshing at first contact, but after a moment Zack could feel the tingling of the small amounts of radiation present in it. He saw a small dark colored towel on a shelf. He picked it up and wiped himself clean of the water. Zack then shaved his face carefully, brushed his teeth, and placed some deodorant on.

When Zack exited the bathroom he smelled something delicious siziling in a pan on the stove, meat. His stomach voiced its approval with a rumble. He saw Kaded kneeled down by the bed packing up her belongings. She had already finished putting the Pip-Boy back together, had wrapped it in the towel, and was placing it gently into her pack with both hands.

"What's cooking?" Zack asked her.

"Brahmin!" She said with excitement. "I figured your stomach can handle some of it now."

"Sure can, I'm starved."

Kade moved over the stove to check the progress of meat cooking.

"So, where we heading next?" She asked him.

Zack sat down on the bed. He propped his chin on his hand and thought a few moments.

"Not too sure yet, need to look at my map and decide." He said at last.

As they ate, Zack had taken out his map, unfolded it in front of him, and studied it. He found where they were at and looked around the area for the next best location to stop for supplies. He grinned when he saw the name of city.

"Nikolai." Zack said aloud.

"What?" Kade asked through a mouthful of food.

"You wouldn't mind taking a little detour would you?" He asked.

"What do you mean?" She said with a raised eyebrow.

"Well, remember when I said I had some ideas for getting the rest of the buy in for the poker tournament?" He asked.

Kade nodded.

"Also about my father's friend who helped my mother and I escape to Polvo?"

"Yeah?" She said.

"His name is Nikolai. Back in New Vegas he was a freelancer, a jack of all trades kind of guy. He would always be driving around in that barely working beat up pick up truck of his. He mainly worked for the crime families, but sometimes did things for some of the local gangs."

"He wasn't a hitman or anything like that, was he?" Kade asked with a frown.

"Not that I was aware of. He was more of a messenger, runner, and muscle when need be. Everyone around the area knew him. Always figured he was on a job for one of the families and left him be."

"Wait though, your dad worked security at a casino and became friends with this Nikolai guy?"

Zack laughed. "It didn't start out that way, well at least what mother told me. She said were natural enemies by design. Nikolai would come and go through his casino, but he was under orders not to impede him in anyway. There came a few times when Daniel Tull sent the both of them out to do certain grey area tasks. My father at first wasn't to keen on the arrangement, but after spending time together they both came to realize they actually liked each other's company, that plus the fact that they saved the other's lives at one point. This was the time when my father had his wrist broken and had dropped his gun. Nikolai bashed the assailants face in with a metal bat before he could do more harm to my father."

"I see." Kade said.

"Yep, he would come to visit us every so often in Blue Diamond when my mother and father wanted to spend some time alone."

Kade laughed. "He was your babysitter?"

Zack smiled. "Yeah I suppose that's an accurate statement. But at least he taught me a few survival things, mainly proper ways to wield a knife effectively, and as a bonus, he let me stay up past my bedtime."

"Nice, but what does he have to do with a detour?" She asked.

"He figured his luck wouldn't hold out forever and retired from the business about six years ago. He moved on the outskirts of city north east of here called Prescott. My mother received a few letters from him. At first they were just friendly ones, keeping in touch, that sort of thing. But, then he began to ask her for some help. Apparently he had some grand scheme for a business up north, but needed some capital to get it off the ground. My mother was lenient at first, but only agreed to send him the money, but wanted it repaid at some point."

"So we're heading there to collect the debt then?" She asked.

"Only if that's alright with you. It's a little out of the ways, but it would be good to see him as well as collect what is owed."

Kade shrugged. "Sure, if it helps you out I'm fine with it."

"Alright. Leaving tonight good for you?" Zack said.

Kade nodded and then abruptly looked concerned. "You do trust him though right? He's not going to stab us in the back or anything, will he?"

Zack pondered the question. "I'm pretty sure he wouldn't, but can never be too cautious I suppose."

They finished eating and Zack packed up the rest of his belongings. He got fully dressed within his duster, pauldron, gloves, holster, head wrap, and goggles. Kade got fully ready as well.

"Oh yeah before I forget, here." Kade passed him a black rounded object.

Zack took it and looked it over.

"It's a flashlight, standard issue for the military when the war started. I figured you didn't really know what to take for your reward in the store, so I picked it out for you."

"Uh, thanks." He said. "Could come in handy."

"Yep. It only has one fission battery though. We'll have to find more once it runs out of juice."

They left the store together. Dusk was approaching and the sounds of the day were dissipating. With the way his leg was, Zack wasn't too sure how far they could actually travel, but he was willing to endure some pain to continue on. They searched the town in hopes to find Christina. They found her at a café about a block down the road. She was behind the counter at a stove cooking up multiple items for the townsfolk that were seated here. Their gaze was still a bit distant and they looked a little green around the gills. Other than that they seemed to be getting back to themselves. They were acting normal. Well in the sense that they weren't caught up in the illusions of dreams anymore.

Christina turned around and saw the both of them standing here. Zack thanked Christina again for the hospitality. She asked them if they wanted to stay for dinner, or breakfast in their case. They declined nicely explaining they had already eaten and wanted to get back on the road. They said their good byes before heading towards the north east, leaving the town of Aguila behind them.


	29. Hiatus

Reasons for No More Chapters

Sorry I haven't updated this story for a bit. Life just gets busy. I had to work 50+ hours at work for about 4 months, then I had a daughter born so it has been tough to find time to write. Not sure if I will be able to continue or finish this story, or perhaps sometime in the future when I have more time.


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